Protected Species

Wildlife

1) California black legless lizard (Anniella pulchra nigra)


                       

Description: The body is elongate, pencil-thin, smooth and limbless, and has moveable eyelids with no external ear openings.  The upper snout is rounded and blunt, sharp at the tip, and extends well beyond the lower jaw.  The eyes are tiny, with round pupils and opaque eyelids.  The tongue is short, broad, and slightly nicked at the tip.  The body is black or dark brown in color.  The tail is long, and often regenerated.  Juveniles are thin and silvery.

Range: The California black legless lizard is found from near the Santa Cruz-Monterey County border south into coastal Baja Mexico.  Formerly this lizard ranged north to San Francisco.

2) California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense)

Description: The California tiger salamander is a large, stocky, terrestrial salamander with a broad, rounded snout.  Adult males are about 8 inches long and adult females are a little less than 7 inches long.  Coloration consists of white or pale yellow spots or bars on a black background on the back and sides.  The belly varies from almost a uniform white or pale yellow to a variegated pattern of white or pale yellow and black.  The salamander's small eyes protrude from their heads, and they have black irises. 

Range: This amphibian was historically distributed throughout most of the Central Valley, adjacent foothills, Coast Ranges, Santa Barbara County, and the Santa Rosa Plain in Sonoma County. 

Habitat: This salamander requires seasonal ponds, or vernal pools, for successful breeding.  The species breeds during the winter rainy season, but spends the majority of the year in underground refuges, primarily small mammal burrows, in grassland or oak woodland habitat. 

3) Monterey ornate shrew (Sorex ornatus salarius)

Description: This small mammal has a grayish brown back and a slightly paler stomach.  The tail is dark brown, being darkest at the tip.  It is typically 3.5 to 4.25 inches long. 

Range: The Monterey ornate shrew ranges along the southern two-thirds of coastal California, and it is also found in central California.

Habitat: Little is known about the habits of the Monterey ornate shrew, but they are probably similar to those of other small, long-tailed shrews.  Ornate shrews typically are found: in brackish water marshes; along streams; in brushy areas of valleys and foothills; and in forests.  They especially favor low, dense vegetation that forms a cover for worms and insects.

HMP Protection: The California black legless lizard and the Monterey ornate shrew are also considered “species of special concern” (SOSC) by the State of California.

4) Coast horned lizard (Phrynosoma coronatum)

Description: Erroneously called "horny toads," horned lizards are spiny, ant-eating lizards unlike any other lizards in North America. Fourteen species are currently recognized, 8 of which are found within the continental USA. 

Range: The coast horned lizard is primarily found west of the Sierra mountains from central California south throughout Baja California.          

Vegetation

1) Sand gilia (Gilia tenuiflora arenaria)

Description: Sand gilia is a short, sticky-haired annual herb with a basal rosette of leaves with reclining stems that produces tiny purple flowers. 

Range: Sand gilia is an annual herb that is native to California and is limited to the central California coastal area around Monterey Bay. 

Habitat: These plants are usually confined to bare, wind-sheltered areas among the coastal sand dunes and in openings in maritime chaparral. 

HMP Protection: Sand gilia is ranked by the California Native Plant Society as extremely rare; it is listed by the state of California as Threatened; and it is listed by the Federal Government as Endangered. 

2) Monterey spineflower (Chorizanthe pungens pungens)

Range: The Monterey spineflower is found in sandy areas along the California coast from Monterey to San Francisco.

Description: This plant is a semi-flat-lying annual.  It has basal leaves, grayish hairy stems up to a foot long, and dense, head-like clusters of minute white flowers within a six-parted, greenish floral envelope, each segment of which ends in a recurved spine.

HMP Protection: The Monterey spineflower is listed by the Federal Government as Threatened. 

 

 

 
3) Coast wallflower (Erysimum ammophilum)

Description: Coast wallflower is a short-lived perennial with bright yellow flowers.  This plant likes full sun, and sandy soil.

Range: The disjunctive range of coast (or beach) wallflower includes the central and southern California coast, and the north Channel Islands. 

Habitat: This plant is native to sandy coastal bluffs, old eroded dunes now well back of the existing beach line, and in sandy locales in chaparral openings.  The very sandy substrate seems to be a prerequisite for this species.

4) Eastwood’s goldenbush (Ericameria fasciculata)

Description: Eastwood’s goldenbush (also known as mock heather) is a broad, compact, much-branched shrub that is native to California and is limited primarily to Monterey County.This leafy shrub grows 1 to 3.5 feet tall.  The herbage is resinous; the many leaves alternate, are linear, and are 1/8 to 3/8 inch long.  The radiating yellow flower heads are in terminal clusters of 2 to 6 flowers. 

Habitat: This species prefers dunes and sandy areas near the coast, blooming from August to November. 

HMP Protection: It is ranked by the California Native Plant Society as extremely rare.    

 

5) Monterey ceanothus (Ceanothus cuneatus var. rigidus)

           

Description: Monterey ceanothus is a large shrub, 4 to 8 feet tall, that prefers full sun and sandy soil.  It is a prized garden shrub because of its dense intricate habit and small dark green leaves that are clustered on short lateral branchlets.  Its flowers are very typical of the Buckthorn family.  The flowers are small with five incurved concave petals, each of which envelops a central stamen. 

Range: This plant is rare, and is found in sandy hills, flats, and forests from the southern San Francisco Bay Area to San Luis Obispo County on the Central Coast.

6) Monterey manzanita (Arctostaphylos montereyensis)

Description: This is an evergreen shrub, about 3-7 feet tall, erect, and bristly.  Leaves are alternate, simple, erect, and blade-like, somewhat rounded to oblong or oval.  Flowers are small, white, and occur in dense clusters at the ends of the branches.  This hardy shrub prefers full sun or partial shade.

Range: Monterey manzanita is native to coastal California, and is found along the Central Coast from about Point Reyes to Point Conception, and along the South Coast Ranges. 

7) Sandmat manzanita (Arctostaphylos pumila)

Description: Sandmat manzanita is a gray, mounding, low shrub that is typically found in dunes and coastal hills.  It normally grows 2 to 4 feet high with a spreading, sprawling habit that allows the tips to root in the loose sandy soils. 

Range: Sandmat (or dune) manzanita is a rare species that primarily is found along the central coast of California, and especially around Monterey Bay.

 

Administrative Director: ucscnrs@ucsc.edu
Steward: Sean McStay mcstay@ucsc.edu

Copyright: UCSC Natural Reserves

Designed by: Dawit Alemayehu

Last updated April 6, 2005
Mail comments to fusari@ucsc.edu