Jojoba

Scientific Name: Simmondsia chinensis

Date Collected: April 23, 2011

Location Collected: At UCLA Botanical Garden on the other side of Hilgard Street near Manning Street facing away from Hilgard on upper region.

Habitat: Grows on deserts, and uplands with high tolerance to fire, drought, and low requirements in fertility. Soils can be at medium textured, or coarse textured.

Nativity: Native to California, Arizona, Utah, and Northern Mexico, this plant is only distributed and introduced in these places on North America.

Special Notes: In the growth form of the plant, they have multiple stems, and the female plants produce a nut that is green-colored, and hard, which the capsules contain an oil and liquid wax used for cosmetics. However, the jojoba oil is not used in foods because it is not digestible.

Resources:   ITIS Standard Report Page
                    Southeastern Arizona Wildflowers
                    USDA Plants- Characteristics
                    USDA Plants- Distribution and Nativity

Red Bush Monkeyflower

Scientific Name: Mimulus puniceus

Date Collected: April 23, 2011

Location Collected: At UCLA Botanical Garden at the other side of Hilgard Street towards Manning Street facing toward the street at the upper region near a fence.

Habitiat: Lives and grows in a full sun environments, and prefers to grow in partial shade inlands, presumably the near coast with a full sun exposure.

Nativity: Native to Southern California, this plant is distributed and introduced only in parts of California on the North American continent.

Special Notes: Also known as the Diplacus puniceus, this plant requires a well drained soil and are not tolerant to cold weather because they have frozen at 27 degrees Farenheit, and to the ground at 22 degrees Farenheit. The taxon of the plant is also undergoing changes in name.

Resources:   ITIS Standard Report Page
                    Calflora- Mimulus puniceus
                    Las Pilitas Nursery- Diplacus puniceus
                    USDA Plants- Mimulus puniceus

Nevin's Barberry

Scientific Name: Berberis nevinii

Date Collected: April 23, 2011

Location Collected: At UCLA Botanical Garden on the other side of Hilgard Street near Manning facing at the fence direction filled with California native plants.

Habitat: Lives on usually dry-coastal, and mountain chapparal regions requiring very little water in the year. Usually prefers exposure to full sun growth, and can grow in almost any condition of soil.

Nativity: Native to Souther California, this plant is distributed only throughout the southern region of California an no other places on the North American areas as well as being introduced.

Special Notes: Currently, the B.nevinii is endangered in the wild, but their growth adaptations are quite unique. These plants are drought tolerant, and can grow at cold temperatures of at 0 degrees Farenheit, and even possibly below that down to -30 degrees Farenheit.

Resources:   ITIS Standard Report Page
                    Nevin's Barberry- Trade Winds Fruit
                    USDA Plants- Berberis Nevinii

Maritime Ceanothus

Scientific Name: Ceanothus maritimus

Date Collected: April, 23 2011

Location Collected: At UCLA Botanical Garden on the other side of Hilgard Street near a fence and towards Manning, at the upper region.

Habitat: Grows on coastal bluffs, but not found much throughout other places, distributed only throughout California on coastal regions.

Nativity: Native to California, this plant is introduced only in California alone and is distributed solely there at the coastal regions of California.

Special Notes: Able to produce flowers, their flowers can leave off a scent, and produces fruits of nuts/acorns. In their growing requirements, these are salt tolerant plants, and expectedly, their flowers bloom during the spring season.

Resources:   ITIS Standard Report Page
                    Roger's Trees and Shrubs- Ceanothus maritimus
                    USDA Plants- Ceanothus maritimus

Brittlebrush

Scientific Name: Encelia farinosa

Date Collected: April 23, 2011

Location Collected: At UCLA Botanical Garden, on the other side of Hilgard Street near Manning Street next to a fence straight down from the entrance at Hilgard Street.

Habitat: Found in deserts, they tend to grow on rocky hillsides, can grow during both the fall and the winter season, and blooms only in winter season.

Nativity: This plant is native to California, including the lands of Arizona, & and the entire southwestern US, and is found but not native in Hawaii.

Special Notes: The flowers produced can attract butterflies, especially when other blooming plants are quite scarce, the mature stems(broken) can be edible for a resinous gum which was a chewing gum back in the past. Finally, the fragrance of that gum can also be burned as incense.

Resources:   USDA- Plant Characteristics
                    Southeastern Arizona Wildflowers
                    ITIS Standard Report Page

Bo Tree

Scientific Name: Ficus religiosa

Date Collected: April 22, 2011

Location Collected: At UCLA Botanical Garden near the 2nd entrance from the street of Hilgard, where the plant is facing toward the street and is near a fence.

Habitat: Usually cultivated, the F.religiosa is found in areas of full sun or a filtered sun with a land fertility of well-drained soil, and climate is at warm temperature.

Nativity: Not native to California, but native to Western Asia & Southeast Asia, specifically at India, & Sri Lanka to Nepal, southern China, and Vietnam.

Special Notes: Also known as the peepal tree, this plant is used as a medicinal herb which serves also as tonic for body. In addition, they can be used as bandages to the body to prevent the growth of pus, but only in its preliminary stage.

Resources:   ITIS Standard Report Page
                    Peepal Tree Values
                    Bo-Tree, Ficus Religiosa

Marmalade Bush

Scientific Name: Streptosolen jamesonii

Date Collected: April 22, 2011

Location Collected: At UCLA Botanical Garden directly straight towards from the 2nd entrance at Hilgard Street facing away from the street on the central left side.

Habitat: Humid areas, which require full exposure to sun, and the temperature capacity of no less than 28 degrees Farenheit. Also found in Andes Mountain range, which is also a humid area.

Nativity: Not native to California, native to South America, specifically at Ecuador, Peru, and Columbia.

Special Notes: In the North American continent, only San Francisco and Hawaii was introduced by this plant. Their fertility consists of a acidic pH soil from 5.5 to 6.5, and it is possible to be a toxic plant due to the S.jamesonii being related to the toxic plant, the Brugmansia, so it may not be edible.

Resources:   Rare and Exotic Plants
                    ITIS Standard Report Page
                    USDA Plants

Gold And Silver Chrysanthemum

Scientific Name: Chrysanthemum pacificum

Date Collected: April 22, 2011

Location Collected: At UCLA Botanical Garden near the 2nd entrance from the street of Hilgard to the central left region facing away from the street.

Habitat: Near seashores during sunny weather, mostly on coastal cliffs, despite in a poor, or ordinary
well-drained soil, but require a full sun.

Nativity: Not native to California, but rather in Central and Eastern Asia, specifically at Japan, most likely to be in Honshu.

Special Notes: Also known as C.leucanthemum, this plant produces both flowers, and fruit in which the flowers budded from the plant are yellow-colored, and the fruits are simply achenes. Furthermore, their requirement of fertility in soil is low, therefore, they are able to properly grow in a infertile soil.

Resources:   ITIS Standard Report Page
                    USDA Plants- Characteristics 
                    Michigan State University

Chinese Hibiscus

Scientific Name: Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

Date Collected: April 22, 2011

Location Collected: At UCLA Botanical Garden at the near bottom right side of the entrance at Tiverton Street, facing toward the street.

Habitat: Found in ornamental gardens in wide areas and grows numerously in temperate as well as tropical climate. However, tropical hibiscus is not frost tolerant, therefore they require a little care and protection under a temperate climate.

Nativity: Native not to California, but rather in tropical Asia, specifically the Southeastern Asia, and even China. First introduced as foreign to the Carribean and Continental US.

Special Notes: Used to attract hummingbirds and more little birds. Also used for medicinal purposes as herb for checking bleeding, soothing damaged tissues, and relaxing spasms. The flowers produced are used for treatment of carbuncles, fevers, and sores.

Resources:  Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis
                    ITIS Standard Report Page
                    Plants For A Future

Clay's Hibiscus

Scientific Name: Hibiscus clayi

Date Collected: April 22, 2011

Location Collected: At UCLA Botanical Garden on the right side near the entrance to the garden at the street of Tiverton.

Habitat: Lowland dry forests at slopes from elevations of generally 230 to 250 meters

Nativity: H.clayi is native to Hawaii, specifically at Kauai.

Special Notes: Clay's hibiscus is endangered by federal listing, due to weeds being a threat in current times. Their distribution status is currently endemic with their form of growth as shrubs, which are usually more compact, and has no sense of fragance at all, but can produce red flowers.

Resources:   Native Plants Hawaii
                    Center for Plant Conservation
                    ZipcodeZoo.com
                    ITIS Standard Report Page