Coastal Sage Scrub: Half-woody shrubs; precipitation 10-20 inches; California sagebrush, white sage, black sage, California buckwheat, saw-toothed goldenbush
Chaparral: Woodier shrubs, with well-developed broad and hard leaves; partly developed in the past by fire and many species are stump-sprouters after fire; rainfall 14-24 inches; toyon, chamise, mountain-mahogany, manzanitas, scrub oaks, Ceanothus, redberry, hollyleaf redberry.
Valley Grassland: Originally largely perennial bunch-grasses; now largely weedy annual introduced grasses; rainfall 6-20 inches, mixed in with the two preceding communities; many wildflowers, including Ranunculus and larkspurs.
Southern Oak Woodland: Open woodland, with ~15-25 inches of rain; oaks, walnut, sycamore, elderberry, sugar bush.
Coastal Sage Scrub is sometimes called Inland Sage Scrub when it is found away from the coast.
Riparian and Vernal Pool are not plant communities; they are habitats, which are very local conditions and exist in all of the above plant communities.
http://tchester.org/srp/plants/communities/11.html
Comments and feedback: Tom Chester
Last update: 6 November 2005.