Chaparral is a shrubland plant community found primarily in California, in southern Oregon and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate and infrequent, high-intensity crown fires. Chaparral are typically embedded with hard sclerophyllous evergreen leaves, as contrasted with the associated soft-leaved, drought-deciduous, scrub community of coastal sage scrub, found often on drier, southern facing slopes within the chaparral biome. Three other closely related chaparral shrubland systems occur in central Arizona, western Texas, and along the eastern side of central Mexico's mountain chains (mexical), all having summer rains in contrast to the Mediterranean climate of other chaparral formations. Chaparral comprises 9% of California's wildland vegetation and contains 20% of its plant species.
Pinus contorta, with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpine, but is rare in lowland rain forests. Like all pines, it is an evergreen conifer.
Ceanothus is a genus of about 50–60 species of nitrogen-fixing shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). Common names for members of this genus are buckbrush, California lilac, soap bush, or just ceanothus. "Ceanothus" comes from Ancient Greek: κεάνωθος (keanōthos), which was applied by Theophrastus to an Old World plant believed to be Cirsium arvense.
The Northern California coastal forests are a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion of coastal Northern California and southwestern Oregon.
Ceanothus integerrimus, known by the common name deer brush, is a species of woody shrub in the family Rhamnaceae, native to the western United States in Arizona, New Mexico, California, Oregon, and Washington. It grows in montane chaparral and woodlands regions, in hardwood forests, and in fir, spruce, and Ponderosa pine plant communities, being most abundant in the California chaparral and woodlands and Sierra Nevada.
Ceanothus confusus is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common name Rincon Ridge ceanothus. It is endemic to northern California where it grows in the coastal mountains north of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its habitats include coniferous forest, woodland, and chaparral. This is a low, spreading shrub often forming a short mat up to about 1.2 meters wide. The stem is gray-brown with new twigs having a reddish color and fuzzy texture. The evergreen leaves are oppositely arranged. Each is up to 2 centimeters long and oval in shape with 3 to 5 large teeth. The upper surface is shiny green and the underside is paler and feltlike in texture with hairs along the veins. The inflorescence is a small cluster of blue or purple flowers. The fruit is a horned capsule about half a centimeter wide.
Ceanothus cordulatus is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common names mountain whitethorn and whitethorn ceanothus. It is native to California and adjacent sections of Oregon, Nevada, and Baja California, where it grows on mountain ridges and other forested areas. This is a spreading shrub growing usually wider than tall and up to about 1.5 meters. The stems are gray, with the twigs yellow-green in color and fuzzy in texture when new. The evergreen leaves are alternately arranged and up to 3 centimeters long. Each is oval in shape with three ribs and generally not toothed. The leaves may be hairy or not. The inflorescence is panicle-shaped, up to about 4 centimeters long. The flowers are white to off-white with five sepals and five petals. The fruit is a rough, ridged capsule up to half a centimeter long. It has three valves inside, each containing a seed. It is a nitrogen-fixing plant, that is uniquely abundant in old-growth forest conditions when compared to similar types of nitrogen-fixing plants. In addition, Ceanothus cordulatus is known to be an important source of nitrogen patches for significantly longer times than other similar post-disturbance successional shrubs, following disturbance events such as forest fires.
Ceanothus pauciflorus, known by the common name Mojave ceanothus, is a species of flowering shrub in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae. It is native to the Southwestern United States and Mexico, where it grows primarily in shrubland communities at moderate to high elevations. It is characterized by oppositely arranged leaves, corky stipules and white flowers. It was formerly known as Ceanothus greggii.
Ceanothus jepsonii is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common names musk brush and Jepson ceanothus.
Ceanothus oliganthus is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common name hairy ceanothus or hairy-leaf ceanothus.
Ceanothus parvifolius is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common name littleleaf ceanothus or littleleaf whitethorn. This deciduous plant is characterized by its blue flowers and flat topped habit, and is endemic to the Sierra Nevada of California, where it grows on mountain flats and coniferous forest.
Ceanothus sanguineus is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common name redstem ceanothus. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Montana to far northern California; it is also known from Michigan. It grows in temperate coniferous forest habitat in forest openings amidst the conifers. This is an erect shrub approaching 3 meters in maximum height. Its stem is red to purple in color, its woody parts green and hairless when new. The deciduous leaves are alternately arranged and up to about 10 centimeters long. They are thin, light green, oval, and generally edged with glandular teeth. The undersides are sometimes hairy. The inflorescence is a cluster of white flowers up to about 12 centimeters long. The fruit is a three-lobed smooth capsule about 4 millimeters long. This shrub is an important food plant for wild ungulates such as the Rocky Mountain Elk, it is browsed eagerly by many types of livestock, and the seed is consumed by many types of animals.
Ceanothus tomentosus, with the common name woollyleaf ceanothus, is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae. It is characterized by pale-blue to deep blue flowers and wooly leaves. It is native to California and Baja California, having an unusual disjunct distribution in the Peninsular Ranges and the north-central Sierra Nevada.
Ceanothus verrucosus is a species of shrub in the family Rhamnaceae known by the common names wart-stem ceanothus, barranca brush, coast lilac and white coast ceanothus. It is endemic to northwestern Baja California and San Diego County, where it grows in coastal sage scrub and coastal succulent scrub habitats. It is considered a rare species north of the international border, as most of the valuable coastal land that hosts this plant in the San Diego area has been claimed for development. In California, several extant populations still remain scattered around the region, such as one protected at Torrey Pines.
The Sierra Nevada lower montane forest is a plant community along a strip along the western and eastern edges of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California. This zone is also known as a yellow pine forest.
Diplacus jepsonii, formerly classified as Mimulus nanus var. jepsonii, is a species of monkeyflower known by the common name Jepson's monkeyflower.
The Mediterranean California lower montane black oak–conifer forest is a major forest association and ecosystem of the California mixed evergreen forest bioregion in certain mountain ranges in California and southern Oregon in the Western United States; and Baja California in northwest Mexico.
Salix jepsonii is a species of willow known by the common name Jepson's willow. it is named for renowned California botanist Willis Linn Jepson.
The Cerro Bola is a coastal metavolcanic mountain formation in northwestern Baja California. The Cerro Bola, along with the nearby mountain Cerro Gordo form the highest elevation areas of Tijuana Municipality. Because of its prominence, the transmitters for television station XHDTV and radio station XHPRS-FM are located on the summit of Cerro Bola, which reaches an elevation of 1,260 m (4,130 ft). It is located approximately 35 km (22 mi) south of the Tecate border crossing, and sits at the southwest end of the Valle de Las Palmas. The mountain range is host to a number of rare and endemic plant species, such as Arctostaphylos bolensis and Ceanothus bolensis.
