CALIFORNIA PRAIRIE 287 



sive relicts of fine grassland throughout the general area leave no 

 question on this point, and this evidence has been reinforced by field 

 and garden studies of the life history of the dominant grasses. 



Dominants. In the following list, the eudorainants are given in 

 the first group: 



Stipa pulchra Poa scabrella 



Icpida Festuca rubra 

 coronata occidentalis 



spedosa idahoensis 



Melica imperfecta Danthonia calijornica 



harfordi Bromus carinatus 



Elymus triticiodes Hordeum nodosum 



olaucus Agrostis exarata 



condensatus Epicampes rigens 



sitanion Aristida divaricata 



Kocleria cristata purpurea 



As a consociation, or in mixture with Melica, Poa, or Koeleria, Stipa 

 pulchra occupies a larger area than all other dominants combined. 

 Elymus triticoides resembles it in forming an extensive consociation, 

 which once covered the central portion of the San Joaquin, Salinas, 

 and other large valleys. Elymus glaucus is more or less characteristic 

 of the oak savanna, and Stipa lepida and coronata of upper slopes 

 leading to chaparral. 



With the exception of Stipa pulchra, which extends to the upper 

 end of the Sacramento Valley, the eudominants do not occur north of 

 the central portion of the state, while Epicampes and Aristida are 

 southern in range, Festuca and Danthonia, as well as Melica har- 

 fordi, reach their southern limit in the central region, but the remain- 

 ing species are of wide distribution, not only throughout the associa- 

 tion but extending far to the north and east. The life form is that of 

 the bunch grass, only Elymus triticoides being a sod-former, in re- 

 sponse to tlie higher holard of its lowland habitat. 



Subdominants. The aspects of the California prairie anticipate 

 the calendar, and this fact must be kept clearly in mind with respect 

 to the designation vernal, estival, and so forth. The prevernal period 

 falls as a rule in midwinter, the vernal in late winter and early spring, 

 and the estival in late spring; the serotinal is all but absent, owing to 

 the dry summer which begins in late May or early June. 



The perennial forbs fall into two principal groups, namely, mono- 

 cotyls with bulbs or corms, and dicotyls with root stocks or crowns. 

 The first are practically all vernal, the most important being the grass- 

 land species of Brodiaea, Calochortus, and Allium, supplemented by 

 Sisyrinchiuin bellum, Mullia, Bloomeria, Fritillaria, Zygadenus, and 



