Book ID: 88629
Kruckenberg, Arthur R.
Introduction to California Soils and Plants. Serpentine, Vernal Pools, and Other Geobotanical Wonders. 2005. (California Natural History Guides, 86). 134 col. photogr. 14 b/w photogr. 11 line drawings. 6 maps. 6 tables. 216 p. gr8vo. Cloth.
Carnivorous pitcherplants, pygmy conifers, and the Tiburon jewel flower, restricted to a small patch of Tiburon Peninsula in Marin County, are just a few ofCalifornia's many amazing endemic plants - species that are unique toparticular locales. California boasts an abundance of endemic plants precisely because it also boasts the richest geologic diversity of any place in North America, perhaps in the world. Arthur Kruckenberg givesa geologic travelogue of California's unusual soils and land forms andtheir associated plants - including serpentines, carbonate rocks, saltmarshes, salt flats, and vernal pools - demonstrating along the way howgeology shapes plant life.