Coastal sage scrub (orcoastal scrub or CSS) is a low scrubland plant community found in the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of coastal California and northern Baja California. It is characterized by low-growing aromatic, and drought-deciduous shrubs adapted to the semi-arid Mediterranean climate of the coastal lowlands. The community is sometimes called soft chaparral due to the predominance of soft, drought-deciduous leaves in contrast to the hard, waxy-cuticled leaves on sclerophyllous plants of California's chaparral communities.
Characteristic plants include California sagebrush (Artemisia californica), black sage (Salvia mellifera), white sage (Salvia apiana), California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum), coast brittle-bush (Encelia californica), golden yarrow (Eriophyllum confertifolium), with the larger shrubs toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) and Lemonade berry (Rhus integrifolia), along with other shrubs and herbaceous plants, grasses, and in some places, cacti and succulents. Lists and photographs of organisms found in CSS can be found on the Robert J. Bernard Field Station website.
Coastal sage scrub is divided into two geographical subtypes – northern coastal scrub and southern coastal scrub.
Contents |
Northern coastal scrub occurs along the Pacific Coast from the San Francisco Bay Area north to southern Oregon. It frequently forms a landscape mosaic with coastal prairie. The predominant plants are low evergreen shrubs and herbs. Characteristic shrubs include coyote brush (Baccharis pilularis), california yerba santa (Eriodictyon californicum), coast silk-tassel (Garrya elliptica), salal (Gaultheria shallon), and yellow bush lupine (Lupinus arboreus). Herbaceous species include Western Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum), Douglas iris (Iris douglasiana), and grasses.
Southern coastal scrub is mostly found along the coast in Central and Southern California, from the San Francisco Bay Area in the north, through the Oxnard Plain of Ventura County, the Los Angeles Basin, most of Orange County, parts of Riverside County, coastal San Diego County, and the northwestern corner of Mexico's Baja California state, including the region around Tijuana and Ensenada.
The metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Tijuana are located in the southern coastal scrublands, and most of the scrublands have been lost to urbanization and agriculture. The plants of this community prefer the mild maritime climates found along California's coastline. World Wildlife Fund estimates that only 15% of the coastal sage scrublands remain undeveloped. Some of the remaining CSS in Los Angeles County can be found at the Robert J. Bernard Field Station at the Claremont Colleges.
A number of rare and endangered species occur in Southern coastal scrub habitats. For example, the California Gnatcatcher (Polioptila californica), is a threatened bird species endemic to the coastal sage scrublands. At the Torrey Pines State Reserve the endangered Torrey Pine (Pinus torreyana) is found as the dominant tree, in one of only two known stands of this Pine species.[1]