Calflora Logo information on wild California plants for conservation, education, and appreciation.

Calflora  •  1700 Shattuck Ave. #198, Berkeley, CA 94709  •  510 883-3148  •  Send Us Email 		 
 
Home

About Calflora

Species Information

Observation Library

Plant Name Library

What Grows Here?

 

Add Observations

Map Viewer

Contact

Support

 

About Places to view California Native Plants RUN THE APPLICATION 
 
If you go somehwere to see the wild plants that grow there, are you engaging in botanical eco-tourism, or just going on a hike? This application is intended to help you find places where you can see wild native plants growing, near where you live or where you are travelling. Most of the places listed here allow public access, but some do not, so please check carefully.

Change the search parameters, and you can also find public gardens where native plants are growing in cultivation, or native plant nurseries.


How to use the application
  1. Run the application.
  2. Using the Google Map, move to a part of the state you are interested in.
  3. Zoom in a few levels.
  4. Press Search, and the search panel appears.
  5. Press the SEARCH button in the search panel.
    After a moment, a table of results appears in the lower part of the page.
  6. Each row of the table (and each on the map) is the record of a place. Click on to view details.
  7. When the detail panel appears in the upper left, click on Plant List to see plant names.
Searching
  • To search for all records from a particular observer, enter the observer's name in the search panel, and uncheck In Map Area.
  • Places to view California Native Plants covers native plant gardens and restoration sites as well as locations where wild plants are growing. Select Natural Status = planted in the search panel to find gardens and restoration sites.
Other features
    Detail panel:
    Press Photos to see any photos associated with the record.
    Press About this location to see another webpage with more information about the location, if any.
    Press Record Detail to see all available information about the record.

    Scrolling: The map is fixed in the upper right of the browser window. When there is a large set of results showing on the page, you can scroll through the results without loosing site of the map. When you click on to select a record, the selected record is highlighted on the map and in the table of results.

    Bookmarks: If you get the page into an interesting state (with respect to location, zoom level, search results, and selected record) and would like to be able to return to it later, press Bookmark in the upper right. This will set the URL (in the browser's URL field) to a value that reflects the current state of the page, so that you can bookmark it in the browser, email it to someone else, or use the browser back button to return to it.

    Example Bookmark Links:

    Tell us about problems: If you ever have a problem with the application, or want to point out a data situation that does not look right, please press the Bookmark link, then copy the URL and include it in your email.

Frequently asked questions

    Q: Why does Places to view California Native Plants show different points than What Grows Here? when they are both pointed at the same geographic area?

      A: The Places application shows planted gardens, where WGH does not. Also, WGH shows points for some very abstract, imprecise locations (such as quads, sections, and some other very large areas). Places only shows points for specific locations.

    Q: The application does not show my favorite public native garden.

      A: There are many public gardens which have not yet been added to the database. Sometimes it is challenging to find a complete plant list for a public garden. When you see an obvious omission, please write to us about it -- or, sign up as a contributor, and add it yourself.

    Q: In the search panel, when I set Access = public access the application came up with 0 results. That can't be right.

      A: The intention of this field is to be able to eliminate locations on private land or restricted public land. When you set Access = public access, you are asking for locations known to be publically accessible. For some locations in the database, it is yet not known whether they are publically accessible or not.

    Q: I know of a good spot for native plants that is publically accessible, but it does not appear in the Places application. Can I add it?

      A: Once you have a list of plants for the location, adding it to the database is easy. The process is described here.

      If you don't have a list of plants for the location, you might check to see if a botanist has made such a list, either by looking on the internet or checking with your local CNPS chapter.

    Q: Is it appropriate to add a commercial native plant nursery to this application?

      A: Yes. This application is intended to show people places to go to see native plants, and some native nurseries fit this bill exactly. For people learning to identify plants, it can be very useful to visit a nursery and see an established plant. In the plant list, add those plants which are part of the established landscaping -- in other words, plants that visitors will be sure to see when they visit the nursery.

Where the data comes from

    For several years Calflora has been beating the bushes, so to speak, for high quality plant checklists (AKA floristic surveys, botanical inventories) of various areas in California. A variety of people and organizations have contributed checklists, most particularly several CNPS chapters. We continue to look for reliable checklists, particularly in areas of the state that are not yet well covered.

    Calflora is actively seeking reliable checklist data from all parts of the state.
    Recent additions to the database found and entered by volunteers include

      1. Web pages about particular places with a botanical emphasis, maintained by individuals (eg. Tom Chester, Steve Tyron, Jorg and Mimi Fleige, Michael Charters);

      2. Publically available environmental documents that contain a botanical inventory.

     
    If you have some time, we need help developing and entering new checklist data. Here is a description of the process.

Acknowledgements

    The idea for this application came from discussions with Susan Schwartz in 2007-2008. Many volunteers (most particularly Sandi Lord) have contributed their time and ingenuity to finding, entering, and proofing the checklist data.
Places to view California Native Plants near specific towns:
 
Calflora  •  1700 Shattuck Av #198, Berkeley, CA 94709  •  510 883-3148  •  CONTACT