A Manual of California Vegetation

A Manual of California Vegetation.

The California Native Plant Society (CNPS) is an organization of amateurs and professionals united by an interest in the plants of California. Its chief aims are to preserve the native flora and to add to our knowledge of it. Its members participate in monitoring rare and endangered plants, fostering public education, supporting legislation that protects native plants, and providing expert testimony to government bodies. In 1974 CNPS published Inventory of Rare and Endangered Vascular Plants of California, the first of five successive editions, which have documented the occurrences of rare species. In 1985 CNPS entered into a formal partnership with the California Department of Fish and Game to continue a process of rare plant monitoring. Over time, more information became available about habitats and plant communities with rare species.

In 1990, CNPS decided that the Society’s activities in the protection of rare species could be enhanced by a complementary focus on the protection of rare plant communities. The Board of Directors, responding to a suggestion from a small ad hoc subcommittee of the Rare Plant Program, proposed a parallel program to develop comparable information about California’s plant communities….