California native plants

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Blazing Star (Mentzelia lindleyi)
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Blazing Star (Mentzelia lindleyi)

California native plants are plants that existed in California prior to the arrival of Europeans. Some of them have extraordinary horticultural appeal, and have been grown in European gardens for over a century. California native plants are in rapid decline in their land of origin due to pressures from urban development, agriculture, overgrazing, recreation, and invasive non-native species. Citizen groups are at the forefront of a movement to save these plants from further losses.

The California Floristic Province is a geographical area which covers most of California, but also includes portions of neighboring Oregon, Nevada, and Baja California. The California Floristic Province is regarded as a world hotspot of biodiversity [1]. According to the Jepson Manual [2], California is home to 5,862 species, subspecies, and varieties of native plants. This figure is comparable to the species in all the other states combined! (California also has 1,023 species of non-native plants introduced during the immigrations of the 18th-20th centuries.)

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[edit] Biodiversity

Of California's total plant population, 2,153 species, subspecies, and varieties are endemic -- they occur nowhere else on earth. This botanical diversity stems not only from the size of the state, but also its diverse topography, climates, and soils. Numerous plant groupings exist in California, and botanists have attempted to structure them into identifiable vegetation types or communities. Robert Ornduff and his colleagues did much work on this problem, and in his Introduction to California Plant Life established a cohesive set of titles to identify California plant communities based on criteria somewhat different from those earlier established by California botanist Philip A. Munz.

Broken into three large groupings based on relationship to California's Sierra Nevada mountain range, the Ornduff scheme includes: the Cismontane (west of the Sierra Nevada), Montane and Transmontane regions (East of the Sierra crest and the Deserts).

[edit] The Cismontane Region

  • Coastal Strand (same in Munz)
  • Coastal Prairie (same in Munz)
  • Coastal Salt Marsh (same in Munz)
  • Northern Coastal Scrub (same in Munz)
  • Closed-Cone Pine Forest (same in Munz)
  • North Coastal Forest (includes North Coastal Coniferous Forest, Redwood Forest, Douglas-fir Forest and Mixed Evergreen Forest (from Munz).
  • Coastal Sage Scrub (Soft Chapparal) (same in Munz)
  • Chaparral (Hard Chaparral) (same in Munz)
  • Valley and Foothill Woodland (includes Northern, Southern Oak Woodland, Foothill Woodland)
  • Valley Grassland (same in Munz)
  • Riparian Woodland (same in Munz)
  • Freshwater Marsh (same in Munz)
  • Montane Chaparral (not in Munz)

[edit] Montane Region

  • Montane Coniferous Forest (Yellow Pine in Munz)
  • Montane Chaparral (not in Munz)
  • Subalpine Forest (Red Fir Forest, Lodgepole Pine Forest, Bristlecone Pine and Subalpine Forest)
  • Montane Meadow (not in Munz)
  • Alpine Fell-field (same in Munz)

[edit] Transmontane Region

  • Pinyon-Juniper Woodland (Includes Northern Juniper Woodland, Pinyon-Juniper Woodland (both in Munz))
  • Sagebrush Scrub (same in Munz)
  • Shadscale Scrub (same in Munz)
  • Alkali Sink Scrub (same in Munz)
  • Joshua Tree Woodland (same in Munz)
  • Creosote Bush Woodland (same in Munz)

[edit] Common Trees of California

Among the better known California trees are the coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and giant sequoia (Sequoia giganteum). The former occurs in the fog-shrouded coast ranges, the latter in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Among conifers, California has eight species of fir (Abies sp]]), the monospecific Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), the Incense Cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), the Lawson Cypress (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana), also known as Port Orford Cedar. Twenty-one Pine species, including the most well-known, Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa), the naturally limited but widely planted Monterey Pine, (Pinus radiata), the Bishop Pine, (Pinus muricata) and others. P. albicaulis, p. aristata, P. attenuata, P. balfouriana, P. contorta, P. coulteri, P. edulis, P. flexilis, P. jeffreyi, P. lambertiana, P. monopylla, P. monyicola, P. murrrayanna, P. quadrifolia, P. remorata, P. sabiniana, P. torreyana, and P. washoensis. In the mountains are poplars, or Quaking Aspen, (Populus Tremuloides) and (Populus trichocarpa). Still higher are White fir (Abies concolor) and mountain hemlock, (Tsuga mertensia).

California is also home to many species of oaks, from giants like the valley oak (Quercus lobata) and California black oak (Quercus kelloggii) to the shrubby leather oak (Quercus durata). The coast ranges contain the coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia), while the interior live oak (Quercus wislizenii) is more common in the central valley. In riparian areas, trees like the Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii), California sycamore (Platanus racemosa), and arroyo willow (Salix lasiolepis) are found. Blue elderberry (Sambucus mexicana) is found throughout the state. In the woodlands and forests west of the Sierra Nevada and in the Coast ranges are found Tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), Cailifornia Laurel (Umbellularia californica), Madrone (Arbutus menziezii) and Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia).

[edit] Common Shrubs of California

[edit] Common Perennials of California

Douglas iris coyote mint

[edit] Common Bulbs of California

Ithuriel's Spear (Triteleia sp.); Meadow Onion (Allium monticola); Ookow or Blue Dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum); Mariposa Lilies (Calochortus spp.); Goldenstars (Bloomeria crocea); and Brodiaeas (Brodiaea spp.) make up the major groups of native bulbs in California.

Blue Dicks is one of the most common native bulb species in California, found extensively in Southern and Central California, and into Northern California, in grassland and dry meadow habitats. It ranges from California to Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, and northern Mexico. Visit [3] for an example of a stand of Blue Dicks in the Ojai Valley, California, which came up very thickly after cattle grazing had ceased.

Calochortus species are many in California, and often collected from the wild. This practice is illegal without written permission from the land owner, and has resulted in significant declines in populations of some species due to over collecting.

[edit] Common Annuals California

California poppy elegant clarkia baby blue eyes blazing star

[edit] Common Vines of California

California wild grape chaparral clematis western virgin's bower morning glory wild cucumber or manroot

[edit] Common Grasses of California

purple needlegrass California melic Idaho fescue California fescue

[edit] Organizations

[edit] Native Garden Tours

[edit] Web References

[edit] Books

  • California Native Plants for the Garden, Carol Bornstein, David Fross, and Bart O'Brien, Cachuma Press
  • Complete Guide to Native Perennials of California, Glenn Keator, Chronicle Books
  • Complete Guide to Native Shrubs of California, Glenn Keator, Chronicle Books
  • Growing California Native Plants, Marjorie Schmidt, UC Press
  • Native Treasures: Gardening with the Plants of California, M. Nevin Smith, UC Press
  • The Jepson Manual, UC Press

[edit] Nurseries: Northern California

[edit] Nurseries: Southern California


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