250 



DISTRIBUTION OF PLANT COMMUNITIES 



ing this association one of the most colorful in all America during 

 March and early April. 



The Pacific prairie, or C'alifornia bunch grass prairie, has been so 

 completely destroyed by overgrazing and fire that it is now difficult 

 to find even small remnants that are typical. Formerly it occupied 

 much of the Great Valley of California as well as many of the valleys 

 and foothills of most of the mountains of the state. In its typical 

 form it had much the same general appearance as the true prairie. 

 Its most important dominant was the needle grass {Stipa imlchra) 



Fig. 112.— Short-grass plains vegetation. Montana. (Photograph by H. L. 

 Shantz. Courtesy of H. L. Shantz and the U. S. Department of Agriculture.) 



which, however, was accompanied by several other medium sized 

 bunch grasses, but these native grasses have been very largely 

 replaced by exotic annual grasses introduced from Europe. 



A bunch grass association also occurs in eastern Washington and 

 Oregon, southern Idaho, and northern Utah which is sometimes 

 called the Palouse prairie. This resembles the California bunch 

 grass association but its major dominants are different. Like the 

 California bunch grass it has been largely destroyed by overgrazing 

 and fire and has been replaced partly by exotic annual grasses and 

 partly by sagebrush. 



