lies, plant identification will be greatly simplified, for almost half 

 the plants that you pick up in the field will belong to these fami- 

 lies. If you recognize them on sight a considerable amount of 

 time in identifying the plants will be saved. 



About 10 percent of the vascular plant species in CaHfornia 

 belong to six genera: Carex (sedges, CypQiace^ie); Astragalus 

 (locoweeds, LegummossLe); Phacelia (most without common 

 names, Hydrophyllaceae);Z,wpmw5 (lupines, Leguminosae); 

 Eriogonum (wild buckwheat, etc., Polygonaceae); and Mimulus 

 (monkey flowers, Scrophulariaceae). 



Endemism and the California Floristic Province 



The term California Floristic Province refers to the geographi- 

 cal area which contains assemblages of plant species that are 

 more or less characteristic of California and that are best devel- 

 oped in the state. This province includes southwestern Oregon 

 and northern Baja CaUfornia but excludes certain of the south- 

 eastern CaHfornia desert regions as well as the area of the state 

 that is east of the Cascade-Sierra axis (see Map 1). The flora of 

 these transmontane or desert areas is best developed outside the 

 state, and therefore, parts of the state of California are not in 

 the CaHfornia Floristic Province. The Great Basin Floristic 

 Province includes some of the area east of the Sierra Nevada and 

 includes some regions in the northeastern part of the state, al- 

 though some botanists consider that the latter area belongs to 

 a distinct floristic province which is called the Columbia Plateau 

 Floristic Province. 



One striking feature of the flora of the state of CaHfornia is 

 the high percentage of endemism. An endemic species is a plant 

 species which is restricted to a specific locality or habitat. For 

 example, Monterey Cypress is endemic to the Monterey penin- 

 sula. Limnanthes vinculans is endemic to Sonoma County. Coast 

 Redwood is endemic to the CaHfornia Floristic Province but not 

 to the state of California, since it also occurs in extreme south- 

 western Oregon. Senecio clevelandii is endemic to serpentine 

 soils. 



About 3.4 percent of the genera of vascular plants in Califor- 

 nia are endemic to the state; about 30 percent of the species are 



17 



