NO. 3 dunkle: plant ecology, channel islands 321 



Annuals 



Large areas of the islands are now dominated by therophytes. There 

 are numerous extensive areas that, because of fire, over-grazing, or 

 cultivation, are now occupied almost exclusively by annual species which 

 are usually associated with suffrutescent plants. These annuals are 

 largely introduced grasses and forbs. However, in places exposed to the 

 full sweep of the winds, native annuals are dominant. The following 

 are examples of these native therophytes : 



Muhlenbergia microsperma Plagiobathrys californicus 



Lepidium nitidum van gracilis 



Tillaea ere eta Cryptantha Traskae 



Lupinus bicolor C. intermedia 



var. microphyllus Baeria chrysostoma 



var. umbellatus var. gracilis 



Eromocarpus setigerus B. hirsutula 



Gilia multicaulis Malacothrix indecora 



G. dianthoides M. foliosa 



G. Nevinii M. calif ornica 



Salvia columbariae Amblyopappus pusillus 



Plantago insularis 

 In open grassy or rocky places on the north exposures of canyons 

 there are such annuals as : 



Pterostegia drymarioides Papaver heterophyllum 



Parietaria ftoridana Trifolium gracilentum 



Montia perfoliata var. Palmeri 



Platystemon californicus Amsinckia spectabilis 



var. nutans A. intermedia 



In all the associations there are many annuals and the majority of 

 introduced plants are of this category. 



Geophytes 



Geophytes are not extremely abundant on the islands but one species 

 or another is to be found in nearly every locality. While not so frequent 

 as in the "maqui" of the Mediterranean region (Hardy, 1925) they yet 

 form a larger proportion of the island flora than the normal floristic 

 spectrum would predict. Next to annuals they are best adapted to a 

 long, dry period. Most of the forms are geophytes, hemicryptophytes, or 

 endophytes, and may be considered here whether their vegetative buds 

 are actually below the surface of the ground, at the surface, or under 



