Northern coastal scrub is a scrubland plant community of California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 and Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

. It occurs along the Pacific Coast from Point Sur on the Central California coast in Monterey County, California

Monterey County, California

Monterey County is a county located on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California, its northwestern section forming the southern half of Monterey Bay. The northern half of the bay is in Santa Cruz County. As of 2010, the population was 415,057. The county seat and largest city is Salinas...

, to southern Oregon. It frequently forms a landscape mosaic with coastal prairie

California coastal prairie

California coastal prairie, also known as northern coastal grassland, is a grassland plant community of California and Oregon in the Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Biome...

.

The Northern coastal scrub's predominant plants are low evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...

 shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s and herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

s.

Characteristic shrubs include Coyote Brush (Baccharis pilularis), California Yerba Santa

Eriodictyon

Eriodictyon is a genus of plants within the Hydrophylloideae subfamily of the Boraginaceae family.It includes Yerba Santa , along with other similarly named plants...

 (Eriodictyon californicum), Coast silk-tassel (Garrya elliptica), Salal

Salal

Gaultheria shallon is a leathery-leaved shrub in the heather family , native to western North America. In English it is known as salal, shallon, or in Britain simply Gaultheria.-Ecology:...

 (Gaultheria shallon), and Yellow Bush Lupine (Lupinus arboreus).

Herbaceous Northern coastal scrub species include Western Blue-eyed Grass

Western Blue-eyed Grass

Sisyrinchium bellum is the common blue-eyed grass of California and Oregon in and west of the Sierra Nevada, its range extending south into Baja California. In parts of its range, Western Blue-eyed Grass has previously been classified as Sisyrinchium eastwoodiae, S. greenei and S...

 (Sisyrinchium bellum), Douglas Iris

Douglas Iris

Iris douglasiana, known as the Douglas iris, is a common and attractive wildflower of the coastal regions of Northern and Central California and southern Oregon. The names Iris beecheyana and I...

 (Iris douglasiana), and native grasses.

See also

• California coastal prairie
  California coastal prairie
  California coastal prairie, also known as northern coastal grassland, is a grassland plant community of California and Oregon in the Temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands Biome...
  
  
• California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion
  California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion
  The California coastal sage and chaparral, a sub-ecoregion of the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion, is found in southwestern California and northwestern Baja California in Mexico.-Location:...
  
  
• Native grasses of California