Sagebrush Scrub (Plate MB; Map 3) 



A plant community that is often adjacent to Piny on- Jumper 

 Woodland is the Sagebrush Scrub plant community. This com- 

 munity occurs in relatively deep soils along the eastern base of 

 the Sierra Nevada-Cascade axis from Modoc County southward to 

 the San Bernardino mountains. A few small patches of it occur 

 locally elsewhere. The average annual precipitation ranges from 8 

 to 15 inches (20 to 38 cm), and much of this falls as winter snow. 

 Summers may be very hot and winters relatively cold. The eleva- 

 tions occupied by this plant community range from about 4,000 

 feet to 7,000 feet (1,219 to 2,134 m). 



Sagebrush Scrub is characterized by the presence of various 

 low, silvery -gray shrubs that are 2 to 6 feet (0.6 to 1 .8 m) tall 

 or more. The plant community is named after Basin Sagebrush 

 {Artemisia tridentata), a member of the sunflower family (Com- 

 positae) which occupies vast areas of the Great Basin. Other 

 species of sagebrush present are the related >1. nova, A. arbuscula, 

 and A. cana. Associated shrubs are rabbit brush (Chrysothamnus 

 spp., Compositae), Blackbush (Coleogyne ramosissima, Rosa- 

 ceae), cotton thorn (Tetradymia spp., Compositae) and a few 

 other superficially similar shrub species. 



107 



