138 OUTLINE OF PLANT GEOGRAPHY 



and ( Jastilleia with flowers varying from cream to scarlet are among 

 the common and very showy species. A large aster-like Erigeron 

 is also very abundant. 



The steep cliffs above the Golden Gate show a similar flora, 

 and there are also many others: buttercups, Iris, Eschscholtzia, 

 Sanicula, evergreen strawberries (Fragaria Chilensis), cow- 

 parsnip (Heracleum), Fritillaria, etc. Several ferns and horse- 

 tails are also common in places. 



A feature of the coastal flora of California is the occurrence of 

 several endemic conifers of very limited range. The Monterey 

 pine, and cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa) are practically confined 

 to a few miles of coast on the Monterey peninsula, and in southern 

 California, the Torrey and Parry pines are even less abundant. 



In places there is a "mesa" extending from the base of the outer 

 Coast Range to the sea, with bluffs of moderate height along the 

 shore. These mesas in central California owing to the cool summer, 

 and frequent fogs, may be covered with a permanent turf, and in 

 the spring are decked with a great variety of pretty flowers. 



About Monterey the hills are covered with a forest of the Mon- 

 terey pine, which also occupies much of the lowland adjacent to 

 the shore, where it mingles with the cypress, which occurs only 

 close to the shore, often clinging to the very edge of the rocky 

 headlands. 



In the loose sandy soil between the pines is a more or less dense 

 chaparral formation in which Ceanothus and manzanita (Arc- 

 tost aphylus) are perhaps the commonest shrubs, but with these 

 are a number of others, including several species of currants, 

 goose-berries, cascara and others. 



The outer coast ranges, from the Oregon boundary to Santa 

 Cruz, are characterized by the redwood formation. The redwood 

 reaches the greatest development in its northern range, Humboldt 

 and Del Xorte counties. The Humboldt forest is sometimes a pure 

 stand of redwood, where the huge trees, sometimes more than 300 

 feet high, grow so closely together that on account of the dense 

 shade, there is very little undergrowth except ferns, and a few 

 low evergreen shrubs. 



So far as known, the redwood exceeds all other trees in height, an 

 authentic measurement being 342 feet. Occasionally trunks 15 to 

 20 feet in diameter are met with. 



