Flora

The Las Vegas valley is in the Mojave Desert. About 40 percent of Nevada, the dryest state in the US, is covered by sagebrush, the scented shrub that learned to live with little water.

The Joshua tree was named by Mormon pilgrims who thought that the tree's branches were pointing toward the Promised Land. It is the largest species of the yucca genus, also called yucca palm, and can reach 30 ft. The Joshua tree is actually not a tree, because it has no wood, only leaves.

There are thirty types of cacti in the Mohave desert; the most common are the cholla, prickly pear, hedgehog and barrel.

Trees you'll see in Nevada are mesquite, creosote bush, yucca, aspen, cottonwood, maple, willow, whitebark, pinyon, bristlecone, and ponderosa pines, Sierra juniper, and red fir trees. Mesquite tree roots can reach 50 feet below the surface to reach underground water.

In the Humboldt National Forest you'll find bristlecone pines, the world's oldest living organism (3,000-4,000 years old).

Ethel M Chocolates Factory, in Henderson, has a cactus garden displaying more than 350 rare and exotic species. www.EthelM.com.

Trees and plants found at Mt Charleston include Joshua tree, Ponderosa pines, bristlecone, creosote, blackbrush, banana yucca, horsebrush, sagebrush, aspen, and white fir.