California mixed evergreen forest is a plant community found in the mountain ranges of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and southwestern

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. The Mixed evergreen forest plant community is native to the Northern and Southern

California Coast Ranges The Coast Ranges of California span from Del Norte or Humboldt County, California, south to Santa Barbara County. The other three coastal California mountain ranges are the Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges and the Klamath Mountains. ...

and

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primar ...

of central and

northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

; the

Transverse Ranges The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa ...

and

Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, which ...

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

; and the southwestern Oregon Coast Ranges. California mixed evergreen forests occur in

ecoregions An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

of the California Floristic Province, including in areas of the

California chaparral and woodlands The California chaparral and woodlands is a terrestrial ecoregion of southwestern Oregon, northern, central, and southern California (United States) and northwestern Baja California (Mexico), located on the west coast of North America. It is a ...

and its sub-ecoregions, Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains forests, Northern California coastal forests, and

Sierra Nevada lower montane forest The Sierra Nevada lower montane forest is a plant community along a strip along the western and eastern edges of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California. This zone is also known as a yellow pine forest. Moving southward, the elevation ran ...

. The mixed evergreen forests of each ecoregion have slightly different species composition.

Klamath-Siskiyou mixed evergreen forest

The mixed evergreen forests of the Klamath Mountains-

Siskiyou Mountains The Siskiyou Mountains are a coastal subrange of the Klamath Mountains, and located in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. They extend in an arc for approximately from east of Crescent City, California, nort ...

occur above 300 meters (1000 ft) elevation, and are of four main types. Douglas-fir forests are found on gentle slopes, north-facing slopes, ridges with deep soil, and river terraces with deep sediments, usually underlain with

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

s. Coast Douglas-fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'' ssp. ''menziesii'') is the predominant tree, occupying up to 70% of the forest cover. Broadleaf evergreen trees are relatively few. Tree species of secondary importance are: * Sugar pine (''Pinus lambertiana''), * Ponderosa pine (''Pinus ponderosa''), * White fir (''Abies concolor''). On

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

soils, a similar species composition predominates, but with more broadleaf evergreens, chiefly: * Tanoak (''Lithocarpus densiflora'') and *

Canyon live oak ''Quercus chrysolepis'', commonly termed canyon live oak, canyon oak, golden cup oak or maul oak, is a North American species of evergreen oak that is found in Mexico and in the western United States, notably in the California Coast Ranges. This ...

(''Quercus chrysolepis''), along with *

Giant chinquapin ''Chrysolepis chrysophylla'' is a species of flowering shrub or tree in the beech family known by the common names golden chinquapin, giant chinquapin, and western chinquapin. It is native to the Pacific coast of the United States.McMurray, Nanc ...

(''Chrysolepis chrysophylla''). On steep, well drained slopes, canyon live oak is the dominant species, with coast Douglas-fir in a minor role. On

serpentine soil Serpentine soil is an uncommon soil type produced by weathered ultramafic rock such as peridotite and its metamorphic derivatives such as serpentinite. More precisely, serpentine soil contains minerals of the serpentine subgroup, especially anti ...

s, mixed evergreen forests are made up of: :moister areas *

Lawson's cypress ''Chamaecyparis lawsoniana'', known as Port Orford cedar or Lawson cypress, is a species of conifer in the genus '' Chamaecyparis'', family Cupressaceae. It is native to Oregon and northwestern California, and grows from sea level up to in the ...

(also known as Port Orford cedar, ''Chamaecyparis lawsoniana'') and *

Western white pine Western white pine (''Pinus monticola''), also called silver pine and California mountain pine, is a species of pine in the family Pinaceae. It occurs in mountain ranges of northwestern North America. It is the state tree of Idaho. Description ...

(''Pinus monticola'') :drier areas * Incense cedar (''Calocedrus decurrens''), * Jeffrey pine (''Pinus jeffreyi''), * Knobcone pine (''Pinus attenuata'').

California Coast Ranges mixed evergreen forest

Mixed evergreen forests in the

vary in species related to coastal (Outer Ranges) or inland (Inner Ranges) climate influences. It usually happens in the elevation from 0 meter to 500 meters high. Mountains in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...

frequently support mixed evergreen forests. Generally the moister the forest habitat the greater the understory density. Coast mixed evergreen is drier than coast redwood and it is a four-layer forest structure. The conifers are usually emergent as canopy layer and broad-leaf evergreen trees emerge as sub-canopy layer. The shrubs occur as the understory species. :Those closer to the coast receiving adequate fog moisture and high rainfall generally will feature the following species: *Coast Douglas-fir, * Coast redwood (''Sequoia sempervirens'') * Tanoak, (''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'') * Pacific madrone (''Arbutus menziesii''), * California bay laurel (''Umbellularia californica''), *

(''Quercus chrysolepis''), * Interior live oak (''Quercus wislizenii''), * Coast live oak (''Quercus agrifolia''), * Black oak (''Q. kelloggii''), * Oregon oak (''Q. garryana'') * Big leaf maple (''Acer macrophyllum''). :Further inland, on north facing slopes or protected canyons, these forests are drier and generally lack tanoak, Douglas fir, and coast redwood. Species typical of the drier neighboring oak woodlands join the mix: * Coulter pine (''Pinus coulteri'') or * Gray pine (''Pinus sabiniana'') Common wildlife include

Steller's jay Steller's jay (''Cyanocitta stelleri'') is a bird native to western North America and the mountains of Central America, closely related to the blue jay found in eastern North America. It is also known as the long-crested jay, mountain jay, and p ...

chestnut-backed chickadee The chestnut-backed chickadee (''Poecile rufescens''), formerly ''Parus rufescens'', is a small passerine bird in the tit family, Paridae. It is found in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and western Canada, from southern Alaska t ...

, western gray squirrel, raccoon and many others. These forests are more diverse in animal life than those having only conifers. The predominance of broadleaf trees provide a greater abundance of food sources.

Southern Coast, Transverse, and Peninsular Ranges mixed evergreen forest

Also called southern mixed evergreen forests, the mixed evergreen forests of the southern

, the

, and the northern

, are restricted to cooler north-facing slopes at higher elevations. :Predominant tree species include: * Tanoak (''Notholithocarpus densiflorus'') * Madrone (''Arbutus menziesii'') * Canyon live oak (''Quercus chrysolepis'') * Coast live oak (''Quercus agrifolia'') * California bay laurel (''Umbellularia californica'') * Jeffrey pine (''Pinus jeffreyi'') * Coulter pine (''Pinus coulteri'') *Bigcone Douglas-fir ('' Pseudotsuga macrocarpa'').

References

External links

Las Pilitas Native Plant Nursery: Info on California mixed evergreen forest

{{DEFAULTSORT:California Mixed Evergreen Forest Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests in the United States Plant communities of California * California chaparral and woodlands . . *P Montane forests

Klamath-Siskiyou mixed evergreen forest

California Coast Ranges mixed evergreen forest

Southern Coast, Transverse, and Peninsular Ranges mixed evergreen forest

See also

References

External links