This checklist, a project of the University of California Irvine Herbarium (IRVC), is a tabulation of the vascular plants of the Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, with cited documentation from herbarium vouchers, iNaturalist observations, and CalFlora observations. Student contributors include: Elora Camacho, Cem Cizem, Maddy Letterman, Megan Peukert, Louis Truong.
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PERSISTING FROM CULTIVATION: originally planted/cultivated, but no longer maintained; not reproducing or escaping into native habitats;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.
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. A compilation of lists from various sources, documented and not documented, is seen HERE (prepared by Emile Feisler). We also cite "research grade" iNaturalist observations as a secondary source of valid documention. These are derived from the Plants of Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park iNaturalist Project. This MAP shows the Park boundaries (in green) along with grid squares for a future Orange County Plant Atlas Project.
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 the option to view the record details.
To date, the following taxa at Caspers have a listing on the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California:
Allium marvinii: 1B.2 G1 S1
Brodiaea filifolia: 1B.1 FT CE G2 S2
Calochortus catalinae: 4.2 G3G4 S3S4
Calochortus weedii var. intermedius: 1B.2 G3G4T2 S3
Clinopodium chandleri: 1B.2 G3 S2
Convolvulus simulans: 4.2 G4 S4
Deinandra paniculata: 4.2 G4 S4
Dudleya multicaulis: 1B.2 G2 S2
Dudleya viscida: 1B.2 G2 S2
Harpagonella palmeri: 4.2 G4 S3
Holocarpha virgata subsp. elongata 4.2 G5T3 S3
Hordeum intercedens: 3.2 G3G4 S3S4
Lepidium virginicum var. robinsonii: 4.3 G5T3 S3
Leptosiphon grandiflora 4.2 G3G4 S3S4
Lilium humboldtii subsp. ocellatum: 4.2 G4T4? S4?
Microseris douglasii subsp. platycarpa 4.2 G4T4 S4
Monardella hypoleuca subsp. intermedia: 1B.3 G4T2? S2?
Quercus engelmannii: 4.2 G3 S3
Polygala cornuta var. fishiae 4.3 G5T4 S4
Pseudognaphalium lcocephalum 2B.2 G4 S2
Romneya coulteri: 4.2 G4 S4
Please contact Michael Simpson, Rebecca Crowe, or Ron Vanderhoff for more information on this Checklist and Kyle Gunther for more information on the Caspers iNaturalist Project. We encourage readers to also visit our Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park Vascular Plant Checklist.
