Plant Communities At The SRP: Why is the Socal Flora Interesting

• Now we can answer the questions:
  • "Why are the SRP and California flora so interesting?"
  • "How did our plants originate?"

• We have a Mediterranean climate which is found in only five places in the world, with good winter rain but no summer rain.

• We have a landscape with high relief next to a coast, coupled with prevailing westerly winds, producing many different habitats.

• We have relict temperate North American species that have hung around.

• We have newcomers from dry areas in Mexico, Arizona and the Rocky Mountains

• Plants are local; "common species are rare; rare species are common"

• We have had a burst of evolution, still ongoing, from the plants being shuffled together, and shuffled around geographically during the Ice Ages. Examples: oaks, manzanitas.

http://tchester.org/srp/plants/communities/43.html Comments and feedback: Tom Chester Last update: 6 November 2005.

Back To Beginning