At the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, Jessie George and other paleobotanists (people who study ancient plants the same way paleontologists study prehistoric bones) are compiling a list of native California plants that survived the Ice Age and the first great climate change of the region and are still alive today.
Researchers believe we have a lot to learn from these resilient plants that adapted after millennia of severe temperature changes, droughts and wildfires that transformed Southern California from cool, moist forests to the dry, shrubby chaparral landscape we see today.
Newsletter
Subscribe to our LA Times Plants newsletter
At the beginning of each month, get a summary of upcoming plant-related activities and events in Southern California, along with links to tips and articles you may have missed.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
Perhaps, they say, these resilient plants can help our urban landscapes withstand current climate change.
Note that not all of these survivors would be happy living near the Tar Pits today, and they are marked with an asterisk.
Most pine trees, for example, prefer wetter, cooler parts of the state, such as the Central Coast, George said, and would not do well in the hot, dry climate of Southern California.
If you have any questions about whether a native plant would work well in your area, talk to experts at places like Tree of Life Nursery and the Theodore Payne Foundation, or check out the California Native Plant Society's handy native plant database on Calscape.
For more on these Ice Age survivors, read our July 1 LA Times Plants newsletter.
- Tall trees/shrubsMonterey Cypress (
- Hesperocyparis macrocarpa)Cypress ( hesperocyparis
- sp.)*California juniper (
- Juniperus californica)Rocky Mountain Juniper (
- Juniperus scopulorum)*Bishop pine (
- Pinus muricata)*Monterey Pine (
- Pinus radiata)*Pine tree ( Pine tree
- *Torrey pine (
- Pinus torreyana)*Blue elderberry (
- Mexican sambucus)American dogwood (
- Cornus sericea)*Eastwood Manzanita ( Arctostaphylos cf.
- glandulosa)Manzanita with large red fruits (
- Arctostaphylos glauca)Coastal live oak (
- Quercus agrifolia)scrub oak (
- Quercus dumosa)Southern California black walnut (
- Juglans californica)California sycamore (
- Platanus racemosa)Cash old man (
- Acer negundowillow ( Salix
sp.)
- Grasses/rushessedge ( carex
- sp.)Spikerush ( Eleocaris
- sp.)Fimbria ( Fimbristylis
- sp.)Barley ( Hordeo
is.)
- Shrubs/vinesLarge saltbush (Atriplex lenticularYo
- s)Poison Ivy (
- Toxicodendron diversilobum)Bacaris ( Bacaris
- sp.)Ceanotus ( Ceanotus
- sp.)jacket (
- fasciculated adenostomaToy (
- Heteromeles arbutifolia)California blackberry (
- Rubus ursinus)Grape ( Vitis
- is.)Purple parish grass (
Solanum parochialii)
- Perennial herbscane cane (
- Sparganium eurycarpum)water parsley (
- *Enanthe sarmentosa)Ragweed (
- Ambrosia psilostachya)Deltoid balsam root (Balsamorhiza deltoideusto
- )*Thistle ( Cirsio
- sp.)aster ( Symphiotrichum
- sp.)Blue-eyed grass (
- Sisyrinchium bellum)Willow Pier (Rumex salicifolius
- )White water buttercup (
- Ranunculus aquatilis)*Three-petal straw (
Gallium trifidum)*
- Annual herbssunflower (
- Helianthus annuus)common madia (
- Madia elegans)Clustered tar grass (
- Deinandra fasciculata)Cockle (
- Xanthium strumarium)False rosin (
- Osmadenia tenella)violin neck ( Amsinckia
- is.)Facelia ( Phacelia
- is.)Carolina Geranium (
- Geranium carolinianum)Parry's Mallow (
- Eremalche parryi)Red Maidens (
- Calandrinia menziesii)Mining lettuce (
- Claytonia perfoliata)Mountain of water (
- Montía Fontana)Little spring beauty (
- Claytonia exigua)*California poppy
- Eschscholzia californica)Purple Owl Shamrock (
- Castilleja exserta)Nuttall's snapdragon (
