Rare California wildflowers may vanish forever
June 22nd, 2008, 3:00 am · 8 Comments · posted by Leigh Boerner
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| California poppies on Serrano Ridge |
Apparently, we love them not.
Some rare species of California’s native wildflowers, including those found in Orange County, may soon cease to exist due to encroaching alien plants says UC Riverside ecologist Richard Minnich. In his new book, “California’s Fading Wildflowers,” he describes our local landscape as it appeared in the past, which is very different from what we see today.
“In the 1770s, it was wildflowers as far as you could see,” Minnich says. But early settlers brought plants in from Europe that began to edge out the native vegetation in a wide area, including Orange and Riverside Counties. “I wrote the book because people believe California is native grassland. This isn’t true. It used to be flowers.”
These foreign plants thrived because they left behind their natural predators, while the native plants still had the local disease and grazers. So the flowers are gradually being crowded out, replaced by the grasses and mustards so commonly found now. But are these flowers completely on the way out? Perhaps, says Minnich.
“Wildflowers are no longer abundant,” Minnich says, “and there is the potential for extinction of rare species if nothing is done.”
But hope still blooms. Droughts can actually reduce numbers of the foreign invasive species. According to Minnich, the best showings of wildflowers occur in the first wet year after a drought. Lack of water kills off the invasive plants, but the wildflower seeds can survive for years in the dry soil, waiting their next opportunity to sprout.
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| Wildflowers blooming in Death Valley, 2005. Photo by Richard Minnich |
Currently, these seeds are still there. And when the water eventually comes, they can grow. “So drought’s a good thing in this story,” Minnich says.
He also suggests low intensity, controlled burns to deal with the issue. “The solution is burning in the spring,” Minnich says. “As soon as grassland is dry enough, light it up—before the grass seed is on the ground. The flame destroys the seed perfectly.” But native wildflowers, having adapted to the local environment, can survive the fires. He also suggests bringing in plant diseases from Europe that affect the invasives.
But there are still some left. Native wildflower displays can be seen in the following sites in Orange Country: Laguna Coast Wilderness Park (peak flower time late March through early April); Caspers Wilderness Park (March, April, and May); and Crystal Cove State Park (native plant hike being held on June 28th, call 949-494-3539 for more details).
June 22nd, 2008 at 5:57 am
so Minnich knows in 1770 it was “wild flowers as far as you could see”.
how many people here in 1770 were studying this issue?
how many people were here in 1770 period? so this guy reads something written in the 1770s that says this and concludes that it applies to the entire state?
vanish forever? based on what data?
drought & burns are good?
wheres do the tree huggers stand on this guys views?
do they seed the state parks with “native plants” so we can see “how it was before we destroyed it”. or do the native plants just retreat to these areas because they know their protected?
thanks uci for once again proving that common sense is not something that can be tought.
June 22nd, 2008 at 8:20 am
Because the Spanish sailors off the coast saw it and documented it.
Thats how.
June 22nd, 2008 at 8:22 am
That staple of western movies and scenes of the wild west, the tumbleweed, is not even native to North America.
June 22nd, 2008 at 8:38 am
Dear “never ending blah blah blah”,
There are many ways that the scientists at UCI can determine past plant communities. The determinations can be based on historical record, Native American accounts (where we’re lucky enough to have them), by studying seed banks, and by studying areas where native vegetation is still intact. Invasive non-natives (weeds, that is) are one of the biggest threats to native plant populations - second only to over development. I work on private rangeland throughout the west and, yes, in the springtime it really can be wildflowers as far as you can see. But in areas that are infested with weeds, diversity is low and only the hardiest of natives eek out a living among the rush skeletonweed, medusahead wildrye, yellow starthistle, cheatgrass, and so forth. I agree with the author that low intensity, springtime fires may help the native plant populations recover, but good luck getting the public to buy off on it.
Thanks OC Register for posting this great article on native plants!
Plant native, everyone!
June 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 am
I would love to smoek some wild weed right about now.
June 22nd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
never ending fight for freedom - the tone of your post is in really poor taste… i just recently started hiking in the sierras and from the few weeks i have spent there i can appreciate this field of study. i am not an expert in the field, but i cann see that they must spend a great deal of time and energy studying and understanding their passion. your passion is more like diarhea of the mouth. understand that there are educated people and then people like you. i will listen to them before i listen to you. this was an informative interesting story that you turned into a flag waiving pollitical forum.
June 22nd, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Dang those white euros!! Because of what they have done we wouldn’t have any of this! What Great and wonderful area of health diversity and longevity we live in. I am not going to sleep tonight because of the wildflowers, I am of euro decent and my white guilt can’t take it!! Just being a human being makes me wanna puke!!
June 22nd, 2008 at 11:42 pm
You can see them today along the Big Sur coast.