Southeastern California California's flora is immense and highly varied across different subregions of the state.
Deserts occupy almost one-quarter of California.
The extraordinarily beautiful, and often fragile, plant life of this region is one of California's natural treasures. Conservation of our deserts, and other natural areas of California, depends on knowledge and appreciation of their biodiversity. We are now in the final production stages of a regional manual to plants of the southeastern California deserts, the Jepson Desert Manual , that will be a vital tool for the preservation of California's desert plants. By aiding plant identification in the deserts, this new resource will help conservationists in their efforts to protect our desert natural areas, aid government agencies in studies of rare and endangered plants, assist scientists in botanical research, and educate students and interested amateurs in desert plant diversity. The extensive illustrations and photographs will be an important aid for beginning botanists in identifying plants they find in the field.