CLIMAX COMMUNITIES : PRESENT DISTRIBUTION 



275 



digger pine (P. sabiniana) and blue oak (Q. donglasii) are the dom- 

 inants, forming typical open, or woodland, stands. The lower alti- 

 tudes are characteristically covered with close-growing, ever- 

 green scrub, or chaparral, in which Ceanothns spp. and Arctosta- 

 phylos spp. predominate. Common associates are several scrub 

 oaks (Q. r wislize7?i, Q. chrysolepis, Q. dumosa) y Aesculns calif or- 



FlG. 143. Characteristic open oak woodland of the Sierran foothills. Se- 

 quoia National Forest, Calif.— U. S. Forest Service. 



nica, Rhamnus calif ornica, and numerous other species are repre- 

 sented. 



East Slope.— Although the same zones are present on both the 

 west and east slopes, many of the generalizations made above must 

 be qualified for the east slope because of its less favorable condi- 

 tions. The red fir forest occurs only in restricted areas on the east 

 slope, such as in the Carson Range east of Lake Tahoe and locally 

 in the northern Sierra. The subalpine zone is represented, there- 



