Name:
Californian Vernal Pool Group
Reference:
NatureServe Biotics 2019
Description:
This group consists of wet meadows found throughout southern Oregon, California and Baja Norte, Mexico, that form concentric rings around shallow ephemeral pools. Due to drawdown characteristics, vernal pool plant communities typically form concentric rings of similar forb-rich vegetation. Characteristic plant species in northern California and the southern Cascades include <i>Artemisia cana ssp. bolanderi, Blennosperma nanum, Callitriche marginata, Cicendia quadrangularis, Cressa truxillensis, Downingia bella, Downingia insignis, Epilobium densiflorum, Eryngium aristulatum, Eryngium mathiasiae, Eryngium vaseyi, Lasthenia ferrisiae, Lasthenia glaberrima, Mimulus</i> ssp., <i>Plagiobothrys leptocladus, Pogogyne douglasii, Pogogyne</i> spp., <i>Psilocarphus brevissimus, Sedella pumila, Spergularia salina</i>, and <i>Veronica peregrina</i>. In southern California, characteristic plant species include <i>Eryngium aristulatum, Centromadia parryi ssp. australis, Lasthenia glabrata ssp. coulteri, Navarretia fossalis, Orcuttia californica, Pogogyne abramsii, Pogogyne nudiuscula</i>, and <i>Trichostema austromontanum</i>. Given their relative isolation in upland-dominated landscapes, many endemic plant species are common in California vernal pools. These vernal pools are found from sea level to 2600 m (7800 feet) elevation, and concomitant temperature and moisture ranges, and are floristically distinct from more northerly distributed vernal pool types. The shallow ephemeral waterbodies are found in depressions (from <50 sqm to up to several hectares in size) among grasslands and open woodlands. The pools tend to be circumneutral to alkaline and slightly saline wetlands. Some pools fill up and dry out one time in the winter/spring to summer cycle, others may fill and dry several times during the wet season. Some pools remain dry for several years.
Accession Code:
urn:lsid:vegbank.org:commConcept:40211-{37AD0C01-9FAC-4962-BF77-5ED632A51F66}
Plot-observations of this Community Concept:
0
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