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A Partial Flora of Los Trancos Open Space Preserve
with Divisions by Community
A Project by Geoffrey Skinner
April-June 1994
Introduction
Los Trancos Open Space Preserve is an
88-acre preserve near the crest of the central Santa Cruz
Mountains. The preserve is located in the San Andreas rift
zone; many of the topographic features are the result of
fault activity. Although the preserve is fairly small, a
number of distinct plant communities are located within it.
To the north, the ridge bordering Page Mill Rd. is largely
meadow and chaparral, with bay and oak forests on the north
slopes of canyons. The central preserve contains oak and
grass woodland near the road and dense oak, bay and Douglas
fir forest in the canyon of Los Trancos Creek. The southern
is largely brush and grassland. The geology varies greatly
across the San Andreas with Franciscan formation sandstone,
limestone and chert to the east of the fault and with Santa
Clara formation terrestrial sedimentary deposits and San
Lorenzo formation marine deposits to the west. The geology
appears less important than the topology with the important
exception of a serpentine outcrop in the northern
portion.
This plant distribution
project provides a partial list of the plants that can be
found in each community. The map that
accompanies this list should be used in conjunction with
the list. Each community is provided with a brief plant
list; some overlap between communities is noted in
cross-references and an overall listing is also provided
following the community lists. The names are those found in
The Jepson Manual : Higher Vascular Plants of
California with reference to different names found in
Thomas' Flora of the Santa Cruz Mountains of
California. The individual lists are not exhaustive.
Additional plants living in each community may be found on
the master list but not on the individual list. The
additional listings are taken from plant lists provided by
the
Midpennisula Regional Open Space District (MROSD).
Plant references may be searched on
CalFlora by scientific or common name; most entries
include photos.
In compiling this listing,
I spent a number of days in the field during the months of
April-June 1994. I traveled throughout the preserve with
maps and Thomas' Flora. After I had compiled lists
for each map section, I broke them down into the sections
listed below and compared my findings with the lists in the
MROSD files in order to compile the master list. In most
cases, I found that my own listing duplicated MROSD
listings. I made a few corrections and combined the lists
to create the master list.
The full document and
accompanying map are available in PDF format.
- A
Partial Flora of Los Trancos Open Space Preserve With
Divisions By Community
- (32 pages)
- Annotated
Map of Los Trancos Preserve
- (map source: MROSD)
A short springtime hiking guide to the Preserve can be
found in the Spring 2000 issue of the Trail
Center's newsletter, The Trail Companion.
Oak tree illustration by Joan Schwan. Used by
permission.
Copyright
©
Geoffrey Skinner. All rights
reserved.
Please contact
me for corrections or comments.
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