What are these grayish plants with little white "hair" in Joshua Tree National Park?
While hiking Ryan Mountain (elevation 5457 feet) in Joshua Tree National Park last month, I saw several of these grayish plants near the top of the mountain. I did not see any at lower elevations. They were anywhere from 5 inches to 1.5 feet tall and had little white "hair" all over them. What are they?
Edit: I had not noticed this before, but here is one lying on the ground partially covered with some sort of substance that is cracked and has small pebble-like features.
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Your description of white hair suggests something like dead Old Man Cactus (Cephalocereus senilis) individuals, or something of the same genus, Cephalocereus. I don't know how abnormal this location would be in southern California. It is said to thrive in hardiness zones 9b to 11 in the US so it might be possible that it actually grows there.
A more realistic option from the list of cacti on the National Park website could be hedgehog cactus (Echinocereus engelmannii) but the level of destruction really makes it difficult to answer with certainty. It's not supposed to grow as tall as a 16 inches too.
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I've hesitated to post this answer because of some inconsistencies with my interpretation of your photo, mainly the absence of leaves. But the more times I have revisited this question, the more convinced I am that these are very, dead Mojave Yucca plants (yucca schidigera). What happened to the leaves? Who knows.
These have possibly been dead for more than a decade, and may have been through a fire. Time & inferno dispensing with the remnants of the leaves and ash / burn marks, although in your photo significant degredation is visible at the bases of the plants which could be either rot or fire damage. See this photo, taken in Red Rock Canyon NV (circa 2014).
(Source: https://phanahoedosch.weebly.com/more-photos/red-rock-canyon-nv)
I cannot be certain, but I believe the yuccas in my included photo may be in the area burned in the 1992 Red Rock Proscribed burn.
All that said, fire would not be requisite for this type of preservation, the desert is hot and dry, organic material can persist for a very long time...
As for the one in your photo that is awkwardly curled over? Just the result of rot & time.
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