This is a checklist of the vascular plants of Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park, with cited documentation from herbarium vouchers, iNaturalist observations, and CalFlora observations. The Park encompasses about 2,500 acres. See the Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park website for more information on the history, rules and precautions, amenities, maps of hiking trails, and events in the Park.
We list plants as:
NATIVE: thought to occur naturally in the area, not human introduced;
NATURALIZED: not native but successfully reproducing and spreading in native habitats without human intervention;
PERSISTING FROM CULTIVATION: originally planted/cultivated, but no longer maintained; not reproducing or escaping into native habitats;
WAIF: not native to the area, having been (unintentionally) human introduced, escaped from cultivation, or naturally dispersed into a natural habitat, but currently not or sparingly reproducing/spreading past initial generation or establishment. Some potential to become naturalized.
Note: landscape plants intentionallly planted and persisting with irrigation and human assistance are not included.
We consider documentation to primarily be vouchered herbarium specimens. These are cited and linked to specimens databased through the CCH2: Consortium of California Herbaria 2. We use the Jepson eFlora as the primary source of our taxonomy, but in some cases use the primary literature from more recent studies. We also cite iNaturalist and Calflora observations as secondary sources of valid documention. These are derived from the Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park Plants iNaturalist Project. and Calflora Observations.
To see a map of the most recent 5,000 records from all sources (CCH2, iNaturalist and Calflora), click HERE. Clicking the point will display the taxon name and an option to view the record details.
To date the following taxa at Whiting Ranch have a listing on the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California:
Calochortus catalinae 4.2 G3G4 S3S4
Calochortus weedii var. intermedius 1B.2 G3G4T3 S3
Juglans californica 4.2 G4 S4
Lepidium virginicum var. robinsonii 4.3 G5T3 S3
Nolina cismontana 1B.2 G3 S3
Phacelia hubbyi 4.2 G4 S4
Romneya coulteri 4.2 G4 S4
Lepidium virginicum var. robinsonii 4.3 G5T3 S3
Please contact Michael Simpson, Rebecca Crowe, or Ron Vanderhoff for more information on this Checklist and Kyle Gunther for more information on the Whiting Ranch iNaturalist Project. We encourage readers to also visit our Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park Vascular Plant Checklist.