DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Artemisia californica | California Sagebrush 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
California sagebrush is endemic to California.  It is distributed along
the coast from Marin County and Napa County south to San Diego County
[62,91].  It also occurs on the Channel islands of San Clemente, Santa
Catalina, Santa Cruz, San Miguel, San Nicholas, and Santa Rosa [63].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper
   FRES42  Annual grasslands


STATES : 
     CA


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     CABR  CHIS  PINN  PORE  SAMO


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    3  Southern Pacific Border


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K030  California oakwoods
   K033  Chaparral
   K035  Coastal sagebrush
   K036  Mosaic of K030 and K035
   K048  California steppe


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   239  Pinyon - juniper
   250  Blue oak - Digger pine
   255  California coast live oak


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
California sagebrush is the most important member of the coastal sage
scrub community [10,30,38,44,78].  Coastal sage scrub is primarily
composed of uneven-aged stands of low, nonsclerophyllous subshrubs.  The
community has been geographically subdivided into several distinct
floristic associations which are described in the literature [36,78,85].
California sagebrush is dominant or codominant in most of these
associations, providing from 25 to 100 percent cover [4].  The most
commonly occurring codominants are white, black, or purple sage (Salvia
apiana, S. mellifera, S. leucophylla), California encelia (Encelia
californica), and California buckwheat (Erigonium fasciculatum)
[15,30,36,78].

Coastal sage scrub is part of a landscape mosaic that also comprises
several other communities which may include chaparral, annual grassland,
oak (Quercus spp.) woodland, pinyon-juniper (Pinus spp.-Juniperus spp.)
woodland, and various coniferous forests (see Value and Use:  Site
Characteristics).  California sagebrush is a frequent associate in each
of these other communities.  Coastal sage scrub patches average
approximately 0.25 acres (0.1 ha), but the extent of the community
varies widely depending on site characteristics and fire history [14].
Coastal sage scrub also interfaces with urban and agricultural areas
[15,42,45].

Publications describing California sagebrush as a dominant or codominat
species are as follows:

Plant communities of Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park [10]
Vegetation types of the San Gabriel Mountains [30]
Terrestrial natural communities of California [36]
Vegetation types of the San Bernadino Mountains [38]
The community composition of California coastal sage scrub [44]
Vegetation of the San Bernadino Mountains [55]
Vegetation of Santa Cruz and Santa Catalina Islands [56]
Southern coastal sage scrub [59]
The southern California islands [69]
An introduction to the plant communities of the Santa Ana and San
   Jacinto Mountains [81]
The vascular plant communities of California [78]

Plant associates:  Coastal sage scrub associates of California sagebrush
not discussed in Habitat Types and Plant Communities include coast
buckwheat (Erigonum parvifolium), chaparral yucca (Yucca whipplei),
coyotebrush (Baccharis pilularis), goldenbush (Haplopappus squarrosus),
laurel sumac (Malosma laurina), common deerweed (Lotus scoparius), giant
wildrye (Elymus condensatus), prickly pear cactus (Opuntia littoralis,
O. oricola) and white brittlebrush (Encelia farinosa)
[9,10,19,30,38,55,69].  Santa Barbara giant erigonum (Erigonum giganteum
ssp. compactum) is an associate of insular populations [9].

Chaparral associates include chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum), bigpod
ceanothus (Ceanothus megacarpus), hoaryleaf ceanothus (C. crassifolius),
California scrub oak (Quercus dumosa), curlleaf mountain-mahogany
(Cercocarpus ledifolius), and hollyleaf cherry (Prunus ilicifolia)
[20,30,55,78].

Associates at the coastal sage scrub-desert interface include big
saltbush (Atriplex lentiformis), fathen saltbush (A. patula), California
seablite (Sueda californica), Europe swampfire (Salifornia europaea),
and saltgrass (Distichlis spicata) [68].

Overstory associates of California sagebrush in other plant communities
adjacent to coast sage scrub include bigcone Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga
macrocarpa), Monterey pine (Pinus radiata), bishop pine (P. muricata),
singleleaf pinyon (P. monophylla), California juniper (Juniperus
californica), and Tecate cypress (Cupressus forbesii) [1,52,53,82] (also
see SAF Cover Types).

Related categories for Species: Artemisia californica | California Sagebrush