Some Characteristics of Plant Morphology in Cismontane Lowland California
(This ties in with “plant community” thing in some ways)
Dry/upland environments Conifers (especially pines), evergreen hardwoods, sclerophyll shrubs, herbs, but few deciduous: Aesculus, Ribes californicum, Toxicodendron, all more or less summer-deciduous. Quercus kelloggii, Q. douglasii
Moister environments More redwood, and more deciduous broadleafs, e.g. Acer macrophyllum, Quercus lobata, Corylus, Ribes sanguineum etc., Sambucus, Holodiscus, Oemleria, Vitis californica, Rhododendron occidentale
Riparian (perennial streams) Deciduous broadleafs dominant: Platanus, Populus, Salix, Acer negundo, Alnus, Clematis ligusticifolia. Some shrubs (mostly deciduous) especially Rubus ursinus, few herbs
Wetland Salix lasiolepis more or less the only tree. Lots of Rubus ursinus. Wetland herbs often dominant.
The most typically “Mediterranean” element of the lowland California flora is, of course, the evergreen element: some conifers (especially pines) but mainly “broadleaf” angiosperm trees and shrubs. Our evergreen trees tend to be: more or less hemispherical, i.e. not much taller than broad, round-topped, i.e. not conical, dense, with a “regular silhouette [drawing]
Their leaves tend to be: small (largest being madrone?), dark or dull green, rarely bright green, almost/never yellow-green, usually not glossy (madrone again being the most conspicuous exception). Deciduous species have little claim to “fall color”, except more or less nice yellow in Acer macrophyllum and Populus etc.; the only red is in poison oak and a few Ribes, and their “fall color” comes as much in midsummer as in fall.
Most of the same particulars apply also to our shrubs and vines, and to some extent even to our deciduous trees, although there are more exceptions here. For example alders are more or less conical. Alders, cottonwoods (and various other riparian trees?) are considerably taller than wide. Sycamore are quite open and irregular in outline. Sycamores and bigleaf maples have considerably larger leaves than usual for California trees.
Despite those inconsistencies, all the native trees look perfectly “right” in their native habitats.
These are some things to take into account when selecting plants for gardens or landscaping in rural or semi-wild areas, so as to keep the overall effect as harmonious as possible with the surrounding natural landscape. A lot of the California “specs” are to be found in plants from the Mediterranean region.
