Plant Lists of Bob Muns

For over 20 years, Bob Muns has devoted himself to compiling plant lists for different places in Southern California, and communicating that information to other lovers of native plants. Bob has conducted countless plant walks for the Natural Science Section of the Sierra Club, teaching many people how to identify and appreciate our native plants. He provides written plant lists on each of those walks, which are of immense help in keeping track of the large amount of information conveyed on his walks.

The printed plant lists are works of art as well as science. They compactly present all the essential information about each species in Bob's beautiful hand script. The lists are usually accompanied by illustrations drawn by Bob, and often contain more detailed information about selected species.

The written plant lists are invaluable to those who follow in Bob's footsteps. Having a plant list in hand for an area vastly speeds up the process of trying to figure out exactly what plant species one sees in a given area.

Finally, the scientific value of Bob's lists is enormous. They provide a detailed record of the distribution of our native plants on a very fine scale. The full value of his lists has not yet been realized because to date they have been available only in printed format. I have begun a project to digitize all of his lists, with a goal of analyzing that information to summarize the distribution of each species in Southern California.

As each list is digitized, I will put that list online. After a significant number of lists are digitized, the spreadsheet containing all of the observations will also be online.

Beginning September, 2002, Michael Charters is collaborating with me to speed up the conversion of Bob's lists to digital form. This will make the work go much faster.

Most of the printed lists are on sale at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden bookstore, and are available from Bob directly, for only the cost of reproduction.

The Plant Lists

The lists are organized by the geographic subdivisions of Southern California as given in the Jepson Manual, 1993, and are ordered roughly north to south and then west to east, both for the subdivisions and within each subdivision. As each plant list is digitized, a link will be placed to the name below. Eventually, I will add a map showing all the locations.

The Latin names all follow the Jepson Manual, 1993, including printed lists made prior to Jepson.

The number of taxa given for each plant list counts the number of distinct species and subspecies.

A detailed description of how to search these floras to find all occurrences of a given taxon is given in Search tchester.org.

Transverse Ranges (TR)

Western Transverse Ranges (WTR)

• Mt. Pinos Region Flora, Ventura and Kern Counties (315 taxa, 1985). Includes summary of the major plant communities with separate lists of their typical species.
• Mt. Pinos Summit Flora, Ventura and Kern Counties (150 taxa, 1992, Rev. 1994). Includes plant communities above 8500 feet and mini-keys to 31 species.
• Santa Susana Mountain Park, Ventura County (239 taxa; 1997)

Santa Monica Mountains

• Santa Monica Mountains (Entire area; 957 taxa; 1999)
• Mishe Mokwa Trail, Santa Monica Mountains, Los Angeles County (201 taxa; 1995; flora from 1994 and 1995, the first and second years after it burned)
• Charmlee Regional Park, Santa Monica Mountains, Los Angeles County (233 taxa; 1984, 1987, 2002)
• Malibu Creek State Park, Santa Monica Mountains, Los Angeles County (407 taxa; 1983)
• Point Mugu State Park, Santa Monica Mountains, Ventura County (405 taxa; 1988)
• Topanga State Park, Santa Monica Mountains, Los Angeles County (347 taxa; 1983)
• Caballero Canyon, Santa Monica Mountains, Los Angeles County (? taxa; 1986)

San Gabriel Mountains (SnGb)

• Summary of San Gabriel Mountains Flora (2001)
  • Summary of Families and Genera (total species and introduced species in SGM and California)
  • SGM Eriogonum and Key
  • Southern California Eriogonum
• Placerita Canyon, Los Angeles County Park (331 taxa; 1994 + 4 added in 2001)
• Arroyo Seco, Lower Portion (227 taxa; 2001)
• Eaton Canyon, Lower Portion (316 taxa; 1984, with additions in 1989 and 1994)
• Mount Wilson Toll Road (208 taxa; ~1980)
• Chantry Flat / Santa Anita Canyon (248 taxa; 1999)
• Monrovia Canyon Wilderness Park (207 taxa; 2001). List by trail for Bill Cull Trail, Falls Trail, Sawpit Fire Road and Overturff Trail.

Mojave Desert (DMoj)

• Red Rock Canyon, Kern County (192 taxa; 1996)

Desert Mountains (DMtns)

• Big Morongo Wildlife Preserve, Little San Bernardino Mountains (372 taxa; 1986)
• Joshua Tree National Monument, Little San Bernardino Mountains (648 taxa; 1988)

Channel Islands (ChI)

North Channel Islands (n ChI)

• San Miguel Island (279 taxa; 1992)
• Santa Cruz Island (627 taxa; 1997)
• Anacapa Island (255 taxa; 1988)
• Santa Barbara Island (129 taxa; 1998)

South Channel Islands (s ChI)

• Santa Catalina Island (618 taxa;1996)

South Coast (SCo)

• Carpinteria Salt Marsh, Santa Barbara County (234 taxa; 1996)
• McGrath State Beach, Santa Monica Mountains, Ventura County (218 taxa; 1998)
• Leo Carillo State Beach, Santa Monica Mountains, Ventura / Los Angeles Counties (303 taxa; 1988)
• Malibu Lagoon State Park, Santa Monica Mountains, Los Angeles County (133 taxa; 1988)
• Rubidoux Nature Center, Santa Ana River, Riverside County (237 taxa; 1977 list Jepsonized in 2001)
• Bolsa Chica Marsh, Orange County (201; 1983, 1999)
• Talbert Nature Preserve and Fairview Park, Santa Ana River, Orange County (146 taxa; 1999)
• Upper Newport Bay, Orange County (387 taxa; 2001)
• Crystal Cove State Park, Orange County (314 taxa; 1996)
• Laurel Canyon, Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, Orange County (221 taxa; 2003)
• Torrey Pines State Reserve, San Diego County (386 taxa; 1990)

Peninsular Ranges (PR)

Santa Ana Mountains / Puente Hills

• Skyline Trail, Puente Hills, Los Angeles County (168 taxa; 1982)
• Caspers Wilderness Park, Orange County (162 taxa; 2002, 2003)
• Vernal Pools of the Santa Rosa Plateau, Riverside County (53 taxa; 1989)
• Santa Rosa Plateau, Riverside County (588 taxa; 2000)

Other

• Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden Cultivar Garden Guide (436 cultivars; 1992)

 Go to:

• Update Log for this page
• Field Guide to the San Gabriel Mountains: Natural History: Plants: Plant Lists