List of California native plants explained

California native plants are plants that existed in California prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists in the late 18th century.[1] California includes parts of at least three phytochoria. The largest is the California Floristic Province, a geographical area that covers most of California, portions of neighboring Oregon, Nevada, and Baja California, and is regarded as a "world hotspot" of biodiversity.[2] [3]

Introduction

In 1993, The Jepson Manual estimated that California was home to 4,693 native species and 1,169 native subspecies or varieties, including 1,416 endemic species. A 2001 study by the California Native Plant Society estimated 6,300 native plants. These estimates continue to change over time.[2]

Of California's total plant population, 2,153 species, subspecies, and varieties are endemic and native to California alone, according to the 1993 Jepson Manual study.[4] This botanical diversity stems not only from the size of the state, but also its diverse topographies, climates, and soils (e.g. serpentine outcrops). Numerous plant groupings exist in California, and botanists work to structure them into identifiable ecoregions, plant communities, vegetation types, and habitats, and taxonomies.[4] [5]

California native plants include some that have widespread horticultural use. Sometimes the appreciation began outside of California—lupines, California fuchsias, and California poppies were first cultivated in British and European gardens for over a century.[6]

Selected trees

Coniferous trees

Sequoias and redwoods

Pine trees

Western Cypress

Other conifers

Oak trees

California is home to many deciduous and evergreen oaks, often occurring in oak woodlands:

Riparian trees

In riparian areas (streamside and moist habitats) some of the trees include:

Other trees and tree-like shrubs

Selected shrubs

Selected desert plants

Selected perennials

Sunny habitats

Shady habitats

Ferns

Selected bulbs

Selected annuals and wildflowers

Selected vines

Selected grasses

Grasses:[14]

Grasslike:[15]

Selected succulents

Dudleyas
Sedums

Environmental challenges

Some California native plants are in rapid decline in their native habitat due to urban sprawl, agriculture, overgrazing, recreational impacts, pollution, and invasive non-native species (invasive exotics) colonization pressures (animals and other kingdoms of life, as well as plants).[16]

California also has 1,023 species of non-native plants, some now problematic invasive species such as yellow starthistle, that were introduced during the Spanish colonization, the California Gold Rush, and subsequent immigrations and import trading of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

See also

Further reading

Books: flora

Books: gardening/landscaping

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: What is a native plant? . California Native Plant Society . 2009-06-02.
  2. Book: Ornduff . Robert . Faber . Phyllis M. . Keeler-Wolf . Todd . Introduction to California Plant Life . registration . 28 January 2013 . 2003 . University of California Press . 978-0-520-23704-9.
  3. Web site: California Floristic Province . Biodiversity Hotspots . Conservation International . 2009-06-02 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081204152251/http://www.biodiversityhotspots.org/xp/Hotspots/california_floristic . 2008-12-04.
  4. Book: Hickman. J.C. . 1993 . The Jepson Manual, Higher Plants of California . registration . University of California Press . Appendix I . 1315 . 9780520082557.
  5. Book: Munz . Philip Alexander . Keck . David Daniels . A California Flora . registration . 28 January 2013 . 1 June 1973 . University of California Press . 978-0-520-02405-2.
  6. Book: Bornstein . Carol . Fross . David . O'Brien . Bart . California native plants for the garden . registration . 28 January 2013 . 1 December 2005 . Cachuma Press . 978-0-9628505-8-5.
  7. Book: Oaks of California . Bruce M. . Pavlik . Pamela . Muick . Sharon . Johnson . Cachuma Press . 1993 . 978-0962850516.
  8. http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Quercus+agrifolia Jepson Manual Quercus agrifolia
  9. http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_JM_treatment.pl?Salix+lasiolepis Jepson Manual Salix lasiolepsis
  10. Book: Keator, Glenn . Complete Garden Guide to the Native Shrubs of California . registration . 28 January 2013 . 1 March 1994 . Chronicle Books . 978-0-8118-0402-8.
  11. Book: David . Fross . Dieter . Wilken . Ceanothus . registration . 28 January 2013 . 1 February 2006 . Timber Press . 978-0-88192-762-7.
  12. Book: Keator, Glenn . Complete Garden Guide to the Native Perennials of California . 28 January 2013 . 1990 . Chronicle Books . 978-0-87701-699-1.
  13. Web site: Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants.
  14. Web site: California Native Grasslands Association . 9 June 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120308031035/http://www.cnga.org/index.html . 8 March 2012.
  15. Book: Crampton, Beecher . Grasses in California . registration . 28 January 2013 . 1974 . University of California Press . 978-0-520-02507-3.
  16. Book: National Audubon Society . Field Guide to California . Peter . Alden . Fred . Heath . 28 January 2013 . 26 May 1998 . Knopf . 978-0-679-44678-1.

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