Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Redwoods & Wild Things
From misty redwood forests and rocky headlands to sunny beaches and arid
canyons, coastal California is home to a bewildering variety of ecosystems.
In fact, 30% of all plant and reptile species and almost half of all bird and
mammal species that inhabit the USA are found in California, which boasts
the highest biodiversity in North America. This is a land of record-breaking
superlatives, starting with the planet's tallest trees.
Native Trees & Wildflowers
Imagine how in centuries past almost all of California's coast, from the Oregon border
south to Santa Cruz, was covered with stands of coast redwoods. Today less than 5% of
these old-growth forests, whose complexity has been found by scientists to match that of
tropical rainforests, remain. Officially the world's tallest trees, coast redwoods are those
towering giants with spongy red bark, flat needles and olive-sized cones that rely on fog as
their primary water source. On the damp forest floor beneath them, look for western sword
ferns, redwood sorrel and velvety green mosses.
Other rare native tree species in coastal California include Monterey and Torrey pines,
gnarled trees that have adapted to harsh coastal conditions such as high winds, sparse rain-
fall and sandy, stony soils. They too derive much of their water from the billowing coastal
fog. Today, Torrey pines grow only at Torrey Pines State Reserve near San Diego and in the
Channel Islands, home to dozens more endemic plant species. On Catalina Island, you'll
also find Catalina ironwood and mahogany trees and the Catalina live-forever (a succulent).
California's myriad flowering plants are both flamboyant and subtle. Many species are so
obscure or similar-looking that only a botanist could tell them apart. But in spring you end
up with riotous carpets of wildflowers. Those famous 'golden hills' of California are actu-
ally the result of many plants drying up in preparation for the long, dry summer. Here plants
have adapted to long periods of almost no rain by growing prolifically during California's
mild wet winters, springing to life with the first rains in fall and blooming as early as Febru-
ary.
