Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve

     Mike and I booked a tour that included a visit to an oasis and an off road Humvee tour through a part of Joshua Tree National Park.  Here's what a California Fan Palm (Washingtonia filifera) oasis looks like.

This preserve includes the oasis plus over 20,000 acres of desert wilderness.  Admission is free.  Our guide explained that a certain type of soil, finely ground stuff produced by pressure, exists along the San Andreas fault line.  This soil keeps water close to the surface, so vegetation flourishes.  Oases are numerous along the San Andreas Fault.  

The California Fan Palm is not a tree.  It is a monocot, a member of the grass family.  The palms live to be 150-180 years old.  In order to thrive, water has to be within eight feet of the surface.  The palms drink 6-8 gallons of water per day.   

Palms are fibrous and don't have much of a root system.  This makes them fairly easy to transplant when they are young.

The California Fan Palm produces edible fruit. We chowed down on some of these black berries.  They taste like chocolate.

Why is the grass skirt cut away?  Because it's a home for scorpions and tarantulas.  Home owners who landscape with California Fan Palms often have to comply with ordinances requiring them to keep the skirt trimmed above a certain height.  That prevents children and foolish adults from reaching into the grassy skirt and pulling out a bitten hand.

The palm boring beetle can eat through the trunks.  Continued infestation will kill the palms.

Water is at the surface in this area.  The water has a high mineral content, and it is smelly.

These little green sprigs are baby palms.

This is a fan palm log cabin.

Beverly and Mike hanging out at the oasis.