1916] Goodspeed-Brandt : Notes on Trillium 3 



California, on the other hand, the rainy season becomes shorter, and 

 the lessened precipitation consists of a few drenching rains of short 

 duration. In addition to the actual precipitation, sea fogs more 

 or less relieve the drought of summer along the Coast. With the 

 exception of the Sierra Nevada, the state is free from severe cold 

 in winter. Under the heavy forests along the northern coast and 

 even under chapparal in the south, frost rarely occurs. 



In the Sierra Nevada and along the northern coast high evergreen 

 forest prevails, with low trees and chapparal on high, dry ridges 

 where the soil is shallow and poor. During heavy summer fogs the 

 trees in the coast forest drip very freely. Much of this water is 

 retained, so that the soil is visibly moist at the surface as late as the 

 first of August. Such plants as can endure shade are found here. 

 Trillium ovaUmi Pursh. is one of these. It grows on flats and on 

 both northerly and southerly slopes wherever the soil is sufficiently 

 moist and fertile. It does not grow in the dry chapparal nor on those 

 hot mountain tops where the trees are tall but widely separated. In 

 recently cleared or burned-over areas this plant grows luxuriantly, 

 sending up two shoots a season from a single rootstock and prac- 

 tically always maturing fruits and viable seeds. It does not multiply 

 in such localities, however, because of the use of the seeds for food 

 by animals and birds and because the seeds which are dropped are 

 unable to germinate on account of the extremely dry condition of 

 the surface soil. Toward the inner boundary of the redwood forest, 

 where the influence of fogs is lessened, the forest tends to retire to 

 northerly slopes. Trillium ovatum is found only well within the 

 limits of the forest in such locations. Still farther inland the species 

 disappears, to reappear in the northern Sierras. 



In certain localities in the Redwood Belt which are exposed to 

 dry winds or have soil too shallow for large trees, the forest is replaced 

 by grassland and thickets of deciduous shrubs and large herbs. 

 Trillium sessile var. giganteum is peculiar to such associations. This 

 species may also be found near the edges of groves of redwood but 

 never in the dense shade furnished by a close stand of these trees. 

 It also occurs beyond the limits of shrub formations, but rarely in 

 the drier grassy areas. 



In Central California the prevailing formation is grassland on 

 southerly exposures, and deciduous shrubbery on northerly slopes with 

 occasional groups of low-growing deciduous or thick-leaved evergreen 

 trees. Such trees and shrubs also form a fringe along streams. Large 



