PLANT ECOLOGY OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS 

 OF CALIFORNIA 



By Meryl Byron Dunkle 



I Introduction 



Off the coast of populous southern California lie a number of islands, 

 uninhabited for the most part. They are far enough out from shore to 

 have a distinctive climate and a noteworthy endemic plant and animal 

 life. While these islands have been known for over four centuries they 

 have been the object of scientific study for only about one century. 



The study of the island plant life was begun in 1847 when Dr. 

 William Gambel of the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences collected 

 a few plants on Santa Catalina Island (Nuttall, 1848). In 1874 Dr. 

 Albert Kellogg and W. G. G. Harford made a small plant collection 

 on Santa Cruz Island (Eastwood, 1941). Yet not until 1884 were 

 any extensive collections made. In that year T. S. and Katherine 

 Brandegee (1890), and W. S. Lyon made collections on Santa Catalina 

 Island, and continued their work for several years, while Dr. E. L. 

 Greene began his extensive work on the island flora in 1886 with an 

 extended visit to Santa Cruz Island. 



Lorenzo G. Yates (1889, 1890) in connection with his geological 

 reconnaissances of the Channel Islands devoted considerable study to 

 the island plants. In 1895 Mrs. Blanche Trask went to Santa Catalina 

 Island and during the ensuing twelve years as a resident botanist col- 

 lected indefatigably there and on the three other southern islands 

 (Trask, 1897, 1898, 1899, and 1904). 



C. F. Millspaugh and L. W. Nuttall of the Chicago Field Museum 

 of Natural History started their collections on Santa Catalina Island 

 in 1919 and 1920 respectively, and published their splendid volume 

 on the 'Tlora of Santa Catalina Island" in 1923. They give a complete 

 account of the botanical work on this island. Ralph Hoffman (1932) 

 made extensive studies of the flora of the four northern islands, but 

 his sudden death in 1932, while collecting on San Miguel Island left 

 his work incomplete. 



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