Plant Diversity in the Siskiyous Poster
Plant Diversity in the Siskiyou Mountains Poster
The Siskiyou Mountain range is a world-class hotspot of biodiversity. This artwork depicts twenty plant species of the subalpine region of the Siskiyou mountains. Most of the species depicted are both rare and endemic to the Siskiyous.
Size: 20” x 30”
Price: $40 (includes shipping)
About the Plant Diversity in the Siskiyou Mountain range
The Siskiyou Mountains are well-known for their botanical diversity andspecies endemism, due in part to the patchwork of highly varied rock types, a transitional climate and the lack of relatively recent glaciation. The sometimes steep and jumbled ridges, along with many wild rivers and streams, create one of the largest concentrations of wilderness quality habitat on the West Coast. The Siskiyou Crest is the striking and sometimes jagged high elevation ridgeline that forms the spine of the range, and is a unique east-west habitat connectivity corridor connecting the Cascade Mountains to the Coast Range. The Siskiyou Mountains are the northernmost range in the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion, which as a whole has been designated as an Area of Global Botanical Significance by the International Union of the Conservation of Nature and is proposed as a World Heritage Site and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
The region supports approximately 3500 species of plants, including 281 endemic plants that grow nowhere else in the world. Around 90 endemic species are found only on mantle or
ultramafic soils (peridotite and serpentinite). A global hotspot for conifer diversity, the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion also supports 34 species (and counting) of needle-leaf, cone-bearing
trees and shrubs. The area is a destination for botanical tourism, as people come from all over to see unusual plants, including paleo-endemic and geo-endemic species.