A Review of An Illustrated Flora of Yosemite National Park

by Joanna Clines, Sequoia Chapter
from Fremontia - The Journal of the California Native Plant Society, April, 2003

An Illustrated Flora of Yosemite National Park, by Stephen Botti. Illustrated by Walter Sydoriak. 2001. Yosemite Association. Yosemite National Park, CA. 484 pages. Price $125, hardcover.

This flora is a rare combination of exquisite botanical artwork and technical accuracy. Its attractive cover of various showy members of Primulaceae and Rosaceae gives it the appearance of a coffee-table book, and at 11-by-13 inches it is qualified to be one.

Painting of the purple milkweed, Asclepias
cordifolia, by Walter Sydoriak, from the
new Yosemite Flora.

In addition to its beauty, this is an unprecedented compilation of taxonomic and ecological information about the vascular plants of Yosemite National Park. The central Sierra Nevada botanists I have spoken to cannot say enough good things about this book, which has been over 18 years in the making, and well worth the wait!

It is appropriately dedicated to the memory of Carl W. Sharsmith, who for 63 years served as teacher, interpreter,
guardian, and scientist of the Yosemite Flora. In his foreword, Peter Raven reminisces about his first experiences as a child learning about the plants of Yosemite. Raven, who is
director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and one of the world’s leading botanists, mentions how the flora of Yosemite was instrumental in shaping his early interest in plants, which
later led to his well-known investigations of the evolutionary systematics of Onagraceae and of the impacts of
alien species to native ecosystems.

Raven points out that while Yosemite National Park comprises a
mere 0.75% of the land area of California (300 square kilometers), it contains 59.5% of the state’s plant families,
38.3% of its genera, and 22.8% of its species. Of the 1,338 species found in the park, only 130 (less than 1%) are non-native. The relatively pristine state of the native plant communities of Yosemite is remarkable, which makes even more imperative the need to protect its native ecosystems from the spread of invasive plants and from other human-caused impacts. Thanks to the existence of this book, it will now be easier to communicate this need to the public.

Steve Botti’s introduction presents background information that helps the reader understand the climatic, geographic, and topographic basis for the richness of Yosemite’s flora. Each major vegetation zone is described briefly, (the book contains a colorful map of all zones), and the percentage of non-native species in each major vegetation zone is also given. Not surprisingly, the percentage drops as elevation increases, from 23 percent in the chaparral-oak woodland zone to zero
in the alpine zone.

This book will delight amateur botanists who simply want to “picture key” plants they encounter, as well as experienced
botanists who will appreciate having a picture for every species (a botanist’s dream come true!). Most of the pictures are in color, while the technical intricacies of Cyperaceae, Juncaceae, and Poaceae are shown beautifully by black-and-white ink
drawings. The illustrated glossary will be enjoyed by all who not only want to understand the meaning of terms used in the keys, but also the meaning of many Latin names. This is an extraordinary book, and anyone interested in the flora of the central Sierra Nevada will want a copy.