Whetstone Savanna, a 144-acre Preserve owned by The Nature Conservancy,
is located in southern Oregon on the Rogue valley floor at the western edge
of the Agate Desert. The site at 400-m elevation lies above flood plain across
the Rogue River from the Table Rocks, north of Medford, OR. The Agate Desert
is an alluvial fan created by glacial deposits of coarse debris. Agates reach
the surface by action of physical forces and pocket gophers .A shallow layer
of clay loam overlies cemented hard pan creating patterned ground with mounds
and vernal pools. Pools fill in winter and spring from 48 cm of annual rainfall.
Summers are hot and dry.
Groves of Oregon white oak or Garry oak (Q. garryana) dominate with scattered
lone oaks, buckbrush (Ceanothus cuneatus) chaparral, and vernal pool
grassland communities. Among 200 vascular plant species at Whetstone Savanna
(species list) are the rare plants Cook's desert parsley (Lomatium cookii),
in grasslands, southern Oregon buttercup (Ranunculus austro-oreganus)
beneath oaks, and large-flowered wooly meadowfoam (Limnanthes floccosa
ssp. grandiflora) ringing vernal pools.
The grassland understory supports perennial native bunch grasses including Lemmon's
needlegrass (Achnatherum lemmonii) and California oatgrass (Danthonia
californica), and many introduced annual grasses including medusa head (Taeniatherum
caput-medusae) and Bromus species. Whetstone Savanna has a pre-history
of site burning and a recent history of cattle grazing.
Vascular Plant Species Inventory
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