Coastal Regions
The coast of California is home to a wide variety of plants, including scrubs, grasses and strands that grow near the ocean but far enough away that they are protected from the spray of saltwater. Nearly 80 species of wildflowers are also present along the coast of California. A number of distinctive plant species grow at and around the fragile sand dunes of the California coast, while other plants grow low on the bluffs of the coast.
California sagebrush is an evergray shrub, three to four feet high. This sage brush is native to much of central and southern California and is part of the 'sage' in coastal sage scrub.
Maritime California Lilac is native to San Luis Obispo county where it grows on old ocean beaches and bluffs. It has illuminating flowers and long stems. This plant receives summer fog and rainfall of about 20-30 inches in one of the most moderate climates in the world. They usually grow in groups.
Coast redwood forests are probably the best known forest community in California.
Rising from massive trunks, they are the tallest trees in the world, some more than 300 feet tall. Despite their size, redwoods have an unusually shallow root system that makes them vulnerable to toppling over if the soil becomes overly wet for long periods.
Redwoods are remarkably fire-tolerant and long-lived; 500 years is an average life span, but some are more than 2,000 years old.
Rising from massive trunks, they are the tallest trees in the world, some more than 300 feet tall. Despite their size, redwoods have an unusually shallow root system that makes them vulnerable to toppling over if the soil becomes overly wet for long periods.
Redwoods are remarkably fire-tolerant and long-lived; 500 years is an average life span, but some are more than 2,000 years old.
This is the Western Sword Fern. Relatively few understory species are able to flourish in a mature redwood forest because of the extreme shade, wet soil, deep leaf litter, and redwood root competition. Western Sword Fern grow well in this environment. It occurs along the Pacific coast from southeast Washington south to southern California.