Rio Hondo College Library - Botany--California Subject Guide

Botany -- California
The following guide provides Web site links, a list of selected books, and access to online periodical articles about this subject. The Web site links have been researched, evaluated, and annotated by Rio Hondo College Librarians. The Librarians have specifically selected these Web sites to meet the research needs of Rio Hondo College students

go to Web Site Links Books Library Catalog Media Articles Text-only version for printing

Web Site Links top

go to: General Web Sites Plants Database Nurseries

General Web Sites top

BeWaterWise.com
http://www.bewaterwise.com/
Sponsored by southern California water agencies, this Web site is an excellent source of information about drought-tolerant gardening. It contains a Gardening Guide, a FAQ for California native plants, and a "Native Knowledge" telephone hotline.

California Native Plant Society
http://cnps.org/
This Web site covers native plant information, sources, demonstrations and gardens in the local San Gabriel Valley and surrounding areas.

Las Pilitas Nursery
http://laspilitas.com/
Contains a guide that explains the principals of Xeriscape, or water conserving landscaping. The term Xeriscape was coined by a Colorado environmental planner and therefore this site has a Colorado focus, but the principles are pertinent to Southern California's dry climate.

Wildflowers of Southern California
http://www.callutheran.edu/wf/
Contains "photographs of wildflowers of the Southern California chaparral, desert, mountains, and north coast indexed according to scientific, common, or family names." It also links to a collection of indexed photographs of California garden flowers. The "External Resources" link lists and links to numerous databases of plants of California.

Plants Database top

National Plant Data Center
http://npdc.usda.gov/
This Web site is produced by the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. The home page provides a link; “Students”, to sources for plant and conservation information. In addition to the link for students this Web site serves as a gateway to three valuable sources of plant information:

Plants Database
http://plants.usda.gov/
This is a comprehensive collection of information about plants in the United States. You can search by “Scientific Name, Common Name, or Symbol”. There are over 16,000 images species, abstracts, plants symbols, plant growth data, and a plant guide.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) Technical Note Release
http://npdc.usda.gov/pdf/0105_tek_report.pdf
“… Produced by the NPDC ethnobotany office, this is the first in a series providing step-by-step guidance on how to delve into our rich human past and reconstruct historic land use and management practices in different landscapes, using examples from California.”

Nurseries top

Cal-Native Plants
www.cal-nativeplants.com
A nursery in Menifee, California that specializes in California native plants.

Plant Native
http://www.plantnative.org/nd_ca.htm
Provides a list of nurseries in California.

Books top
The following books can be located in the Rio Hondo College Library.

Reference Books
Non-circulating:

A manual of the flowering plants of California
Call number: Ref QK149.J54

Suggested Subject Headings
For additional titles on this topic at Rio Hondo, click on the following Library of Congress subject headings:

Botany--California

Cactus--California

Gardening--California

Plant communities--California

Plant ecology--California

Library Catalog top
Use the box below to search for additional resources in Rio Hondo College Library.

Media top
The following media can be located in the Rio Hondo College Library, to be viewed in the Library.

Cadillac desert : Mulholland's dream
Call number: Video 001089
Cadillac Desert relates the story of the epic quest for water and the role it has played in the transformation of the American West. This episode tells of William Mulholland's search for water for the people of Los Angeles. Superintendent of the L.A. water system in 1913, he found a solution to the problem in a remote valley 250 miles to the north. After the city secured water rights to the valley's Owens River, he spent 6 years building an aqueduct across the Mojave Desert. The program also recalls the shady land speculations behind the deal, how northern ranchers fought back, and the great disaster that destroyed his dream.

To quench a thirst : the California water crisis
Call number: Video 000999
Presents a comprehensive look at critical water resource issues in California.

Articles top
The Rio Hondo College Library provides online access to full-text articles through our online databases. Please note: you must be a Rio Hondo College student, faculty, staff or board member to use these services.

The sample searches and articles below are from the ProQuest database. If you are viewing this subject guide from an on-campus computer, simply click on the links below. To gain access if you are at home or off-campus, first click here: https://rioweb.riohondo.edu/library/. Input your student ID number and password [your birthdate]. You will see a list of all the online databases to which you have access. Click on ProQuest and enter the database. You may conduct your own searches at this point or come back to this subject guide and click on any of the links below:

SU(botany) AND GEO(california)

Researched and evaluated by:
A. Enright, Librarian 2/2005
last update: D. Yashar, Librarian 5/2010

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