Foreign Plants. Part 1

an early spring morning in the santa monica mountains a small creek meets them slanting sycamore is and whiskey league year by a botanist bill wendell sprawls along a roadside dappled with wildflowers twisted oaks and delicate flowers shrubs he stops to point out a spark of bluish purple blossoms that means that the opening of the progress i'm very familiar with their former thought and thought a little bit less little boston maybe fifth avenue to one of the recruiters bread from the delphine unlike many of our native plants is only found in southwestern california and overturn the black bee is sampling the tiered lose of the wind damage and the flower called chinese houses rachel bends over a neighboring plant an orange flower bush called sticky monkey power lots of bees both pollinate that flowers like as you can see they're really designed more for bees though because they have a landing strip to be used to come in these markings on the lower lip with farmers like wendy white rundle is walking ucla three hundred acre preserve called stunt ranch it's one of the

places where he researches the world's mediterranean ecosystems these are five areas of the planet that said about the same latitude and have similar climates mild wet winters and warm dry summers they are of course the actual mediterranean basin central to lay the cape region of south africa southwestern australia and california with the exception of our deserts rundle says conservation biologists had singled out these areas as crucial for preserving the world by diversity this is a very unique why would only about two percent of the world has discovered climate regime and it's one that tracks a lot of us but as result the summer most threatened areas ecologically the world because population growth urbanization clearing of native habitats we worry a lot about saving the rain forest and rain forest surely we were saving but is to preserve the land it with between climate has twenty percent of the world botanist phil rundle says because the plants in these areas have evolved to survive in similar climates many

of them share similar traits for example california's evergreen shrub like man's any envoy on assemble mediterranean olive and strawberry trees being evergreen trump with leathery leaves is a really good solution to living in these environments and that's what the species are much of these areas particular water swimming their leaves the don't lose more shiraz release of the star here all year long humid summer when it hasn't rained six months these leads into a shut down and hunkered down in the school day because they're growing again these plants take advantage of the mild climate and can go to synthesize year round and they're tough leaves help them fend off berber of wars the shrubbery evergreen plant communities in southern california are called chaparral our other mediterranean from community called sage grouse is even rarer about eighty percent of the coastal variety of sagebrush has been lost because everybody loves living on the coast eileen anderson is a botanist with the california native plant society and has made up of plants that usually have very very

small leaves and it's often called soft chaparral because the plants that are in our smaller and much easier to walk through and true chaparral it also is and seasonal loses its leaves during the summertime when resources are really limited and weeding out the drought i'm waiting till fall rains and then it'll start growing again anderson is hiking a section of the verdugo mountains near burbank where sage weapon chaparral intermingle the sage they're dominating in the hotter drier places at the top of a steep hill she's greeted by amedee and lemons smell this is a black stage so opulent for another key component of coastal states rather difference ages have different smells we have harsh commonly in this area three different species of saints sages the light stays the blacks ate in the purple sage and they'll have a little bit difference now to them to me that is the classic california smell a pungent

aromatic and wonderful wonderful scent nearby a plant called willie blue pearls because of the velvety blacks at the base of it's chiffon blue flowers and it's a perfume that mingles meant within some pine many plants from the mediterranean basin rosemary lavender time are also aromatic its away plants in both places repel grazing animals and makes them great companions in southern california gardens but some plans from the mediterranean basin to become unwelcome guests here they've taken a permanent residence and are threatening our native plant communities i can usually picture in that bubble decade southern california looking like a color code the whole war ii where you owe more employment at plants anywhere on that land that's our story tomorrow there's a sense you know a nine point three