Chaparral

The chaparral is a major ecosystem and vegetation type composed of woody shrubs that form a dense thicket about 3 to 13 ft high. The species that live in the chaparral are adapted to very dry summers and mild rainy winters. The plants grow in extensive, but discontinuous stands on hillsides and mountain slopes from south-central Oregon southward through the coast ranges of California and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The chaparral is at its fullest …

…is bordered by grasslands and coastal sage scrub along its lower and drier elevational borders and by mixed coniferous forest along its upper and moister elevational borders. Many types of chaparral are recognized by their dominant shrub species or geographic location. There are the chamise chaparral, scrub oak chaparral, ceanothus chaparral, manzanita chaparral, desert chaparral, and insular chaparral. Montane chaparral is a cold-adapted form that extends through the coniferous forest zone up to 10,000 feet high.