Introduction to California plant life

the long version

"California's unique plants range in size from the stately coast redwoods to the minute belly plants of the southern deserts and in age from four-thousand-year-old bristlecone pines to ephemeral annuals whose life span can be counted in weeks. Available at last in a thoroughly updated and revised edition, this popular book is the only concise overview of the state's remarkable flora, its plant communities, and the environmental factors that shape them."--Jacket.