PLANT DIVERSITY AND ENDEMISM IN THE CALIFORNIA FLORISTIC PROVINCE

Abstract

Abstract The California Floristic Province (CFP) is an area of high biodiversity and endemism corresponding roughly to the portion of western North America having a Mediterranean-type climate. High levels of diversity and endemism in the CFP are attributed to the unique geo-climatic setting of the region. In recent years, much has been learned about the origins of plant diversity in western North America. This work, however, has been hindered by a focus on political rather than biotic regions, such that much more is known about diversity and endemism in the state of California than the natural biotic region represented by the CFP. Here we present a preliminary list of native land plants (vascular plants and bryophytes) found in the CFP, as well as an analysis of diversity and endemism patterns at the level of both species and minimum rank taxa (MRT; species and infraspecific taxa). A total of 6,927 MRT are native to the CFP, including 6,143 vascular plants and 784 bryophytes. Of these, 2,612 vascular plan...