other communities. Needless to say, Coastal Strand plants are 

 notably resistant to salt and to wind. 



Coastal Prairie (Plate 5B, Map 2) 



Immediately inland from the Coastal Strand plant community 

 there are extensive grasslands known as Coastal Prairie. This 

 plant community occurs sporadically along the northern Cali- 

 fornia coast from the Oregon border to the San Francisco Bay 

 area. At one time, some of the hills behind Oakland and Berkeley 

 were occupied by Coastal Prairie as well as by patches of Valley 

 Grassland. Some of the "balds" on the northern California 

 coastal hills - which may be several miles from the ocean — rep- 

 resent the Coastal Prairie plant community. Extensive areas 

 along the coast of northern California have been cleared to en- 

 courage the growth of grasses for grazing animals; such areas 

 would seem to belong to the Coastal Prairie plant community. 

 Because of their unnatural origin, however, and their component 

 of introduced plant species, these artificial grasslands should be 

 excluded from a definition of the Coastal Prairie plant commun- 

 ity. Coastal Prairie was originally covered with a number of 

 native perennial bunch grasses mixed with several other herbace- 

 ous plants. Shrubs and trees are missing. The soils of Coastal 

 Prairie areas are typical prairie soils similar to those found in the 

 grasslands of the American Midwest, indicating that these coastal 

 areas have been occupied by prairie for hundreds of years or 

 more and are not of recent origin. For this reason. Coastal Prairie 

 can be considered to be a climax plant community in California. 



Typical plants of the Coastal Prairie are perennial grasses that 

 belong to genera such as Festuca, Danthonia, Calamagrostis, 

 Deschampsia, and others. Bracken Fern (Pteridium aquilinum, 

 Pteridaceae) also is a common inhabitant of this area. Mo.nocots 

 such as Brodiaea pulchella (Amaryllidaceae), Douglas Iris {Iris 

 douglasiana, Iridaceae — in blue and white forms). Blue-eyed 

 Grass (Sisyrinchium bellum, Iridaceae), and Yellow Butterfly 

 Tulip (Calochortus luteus, Liliaceae) add a colorful display of 

 flowers in late spring months. Also present are California Butter- 

 cup {Ranunculus califomicus, Ranunculaceae), two lupines 



77 



