Californian Coastal Sand Dunes

The dunes of California can be roughly divided into fore dunes, stabilized slopes and ridges, dune scrub and deflation areas (slacks). On the seaward fringes Cakile maritima and/or C. edentula are likely to be the main species, while the pioneer hillocks in front of the dunes include Abronia latifolia, Ambrosia chamissonis, Calystegia soldanella and Elymus mollis. Further up the fore dunes the dominance usually shifts to Ammophila arenaria, together with native species such as Fragaria chiloensis and Lathyrus littoralis and may include endemics such as Croton californicum (Euphorbiaceae)and Poa douglasiii (Poaceae). The dominant specieson some of the more stable slopes and ridges include Haplopappus ericoides, Lotus scoparius and endemics such as Corethrogyne leucophylla (Asteraceae), Dudleya caespitosa (Crassulaceae) and Lotus junceus (Fabaceae), although some of the above mentioned endemics are confined to relatively small areas. Species characteristic of the deflation zones include various Salix species together with Abronia umbellata, Elymus pacificus and Juncus acutus var. sphaerocarpus.

References

Barbour, M. G. 1977. Terrestrial Vegetation of California. John Wiley and Sons.

Barbour, M. G. & Johnson, A. F. 1977. Beach and Dune. In: Terrestrial Vegetation of California. Eds. M. G. Barbour & J. Major. John Wiley & Sons.

Barbour, M., Pavlik, B., Drysdale, F. & Lindstrom, S. 1993. California’s Changing Landscape (Only Coastal Interface). California Native Plant Society. Sacramento.

Lewis, H. 1972. The origin of endemics in the Californian flora. In: Taxonomy, Phytogeography and Evolution. Ed. D. H. Valentine. Academic Press.

Minckley, W. L. & Brown, D. E. 1982. Californian maritime and Interior Marshes. In: Desert Plants.  Biotic communities of the American southwest United States and Mexico. Ed. D. E. Brown. University of Arizona.

Minckley, W. L. & Brown, D. E. 1982. Californian maritime Strands. In: Desert Plants.  Biotic communities of the American southwest United States and Mexico. Ed. D. E. Brown. University of Arizona.

Mooney, H. A. 1977. Southern Coastal Scrub. In: Terrestrial Vegetation of California. Eds. M. G. Barbour and J. Major. John Wiley & Sons.

Pase, C. P. & Brown, D. E. 1982. Californian (Coastal) Chaparral. In: Desert Plants.  Biotic communities of the American southwest United States and Mexico. Ed. D. E. Brown. University of Arizona.

Shevock, J. R. 1996. Status of rare and endemic plants. U. S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, San Francisco, California.

Stebbins, G. L. & Major, J. 1960. Endemism and speciation in the Californian flora. Ecological Monographs. 35: 1-35.