California’s Fading Wildflowers: Lost Legacy and Biological Invasions

361 Pages·2008·14.209 MB·English

by  Richard A. Minnich

California's Fading Wildflowers
California's Fading Wildflowers
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U"iIVFRSITY OF CALlFOR!\'IA PRESS
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To my parents, my wife 'and foundation Mavia,
and my dnzighters Victoria and Jennj: who
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In memory of my mother, Mariorz
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Contents
List of Illustrat~ons
List of Tables
Preface
T. The Golden State T
2. I're-Hispanic Herbaceous Vegetiltion L)
Spanish Explorations 10
The Vice]-oy Mandate and Spanish "Boran~." J 6
Calitornia Vegetation in the Sixteenth and Sewnteenth Centurivs 19
Desert Scrub Fhed 21
Coastal CC~liforniPa~ 7stoa nd ZLrcatc 2 5
Bajn California r 8
Southern Calitornia z9
Santa Kai-hara to hlonterey 40
hlonterey to Snn Francisco 49
Summer B~rrcnsin the Interior 5 i
Flowers an d Barrens 6 T
;. Invasion of Franciscan Annuals, Grazing, and California
Pasture in the Nineteenth Century 6 (7
The Bunchgrass-Grazing Hypothesis 6 7
-
The X'ritten Rccord, Spanish Land Tenure, ~ n Ddis ciios T
(;r<~zingb y Nati1.e Herbivores 7 7
liuildup ot (:attle
Selt-Sufficient Grxing Economy
Distribution of Cattle
"V'ildstock" and hILztL7i1;'7
Cattle Exp~nsionto the Interior nit11 the Gold Rush
Wild Horses
Sheep Grazing ancl Other Liveiroik
Early Expansion of Franciscan Ann~isli
Coastal and Interior \'dley P~st~~res
Perennial Bunch Grassland
Summer Barrens in the Inter~or
W~ldtlowersa nd Bunch (;rases In the Dewrr
C~rrymgC apacities and Producti~-it!-o f H~storic'~l
C,lliiol-ni~P astures
Drought, Fluctu;ttio~isin Livestock, aid Or ergrazing
Spnce-for-T~meS ubstitution versus Hlstorii,~lR ecords T-T
4. ,\ Century of Bromes and the Fading of California \X'ildtlo\vers
r\ Xe~vEx otic Annual Grassland
Early ln~asiono f Broines and Other "Second \X'aw" IntasiLes
The "Altar Cloth of San Pasquai"
Floral Brilliance and Collapse along the '.Circle Tour"
"Second \Yra\.e" Invasions and the Fad~ngof C~liforn\~Y,~~ld flo\vers
Historical Dewlopment of Exotic Annual Grassland
j. Ixssons from the Rose I1arade
Notes 26
Appendix r. Spanish plant names for Californi,~v egetation 298
Appendix 3. Selected earliest botanical collections of exotic
annual species in California !oj
Xppend~s4 . References to n ~ldflowersi n the Los Arzgeler TMCS,
The Dcrert hlagmine, and the Rlvcrsidc Press Erzterpr~se ;I 8
References ,3 -,3,
Index z i-
Illustrations
Generalized distribution of exotic annual grassland
Routes of Spanish explorers
Vegetation recorded by Franciscan expeditions in the
California desert
Vegetation recorded by Franciscan expeditions in
southern California
Vegetation recorded by Franciscan expeditions from
Santa Barhara to Monterey
Vegetation recorded by Franciscan expeditions from
Monterey to San Francisco
Vegetation recorded by Franciscan expeditions in the
Central Valley
Lands ~lndeMr exican control, and domestic livestock, I 846
Distribution of antelope and elk during the Spanish-
hlexican period
Mexican land grants
Diseizo of Rancho las Flores
Direiio of Rancho Omochumnes
Diseiio of Rancho Laguna de Temecula
Disciio of Rancho Kew Helvetia
Estimated area per animal unit of cattle, 18~0-3I
The "Altar Cloth of San Pasqual," Pasadena, 1x9 j
The "circle tour" taken by weekend wildflo~vere nthusiasts
Wildflowers in the Antelope Valley