Chaparral facts for kids

Chaparral, Santa Ynez Mountains
near Santa Barbara, California

Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community. It is found mainly in the U.S. state of California. Also in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico. It is caused by a Mediterranean climate (mild, wet winters and hot dry summers) and wildfire.

A chaparral has summer drought-tolerant plants. They have hard sclerophyllous evergreen leaves. Chaparral covers 5% of the state of California. Of the associated Mediterranean shrubland, it covers an additional 3.5%. The name comes from the Spanish word chaparro, referring to scrub oaks.

There are four other chaparral regions in the world.

1. parts of the Mediterranean coast, known as maquis
2. Central Chile, known as matorral
3. South African Cape, known as fynbos
4. South Australia, known as kwongan

Chaparral does not often have fires. These are usually at intervals from 10–15 years to over a hundred years. Mature chaparral often has dense thickets. They are highly flammable.

Related pages

• Larrea divaricata, commonly known as chaparral, a small evergreen bush in the family Zygophyllaceae.

Images for kids

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  Old-growth chaparral more than a century old

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  Coastal sage scrub in San Diego County

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  An old-growth manzanita, a classic member of the chaparral plant community

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  Wrentit, the most characteristic bird of the chaparral

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  Transmontane chaparral in the Laguna Mountains, Cleveland National Forest

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  Chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum) resprouting after a high-intensity chaparral fire

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  Wildflower display after the 2007 Witch Creek Fire, San Diego County, California

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  Impact of high fire frequency: chaparral/sage scrub type converted to non-native grassland

See also

In Spanish: Chaparral para niños