After flames destroyed 1.3 million Joshua trees in Mojave National Preserve, biologists began replanting seedlings. But many have died, and now another fire has torched more of the iconic succulents.

CALEIGH WELLS, BYLINE: The town of Joshua Tree on the edge of Joshua Tree National Park is miles of light beige, flat landscape. These Dr. Seuss-like succulents with spiky arms twist up into the ...

But Joshua trees aren’t trees at all — they’re succulents. Mormon immigrants are credited with naming the plants in the mid-1800s. One story is that the pioneers named the tree after the ...