general glossary

Geographic locations

Diablo range: The east bay mountains and foothills from Mt. Diablo through Mt. Hamilton and beyond. This is a portion of the inner coastal range which extends further through California.
Santa Cruz mountains: The mountains and hills of the SF peninsula, continuing to the central coast. This is a portion of the outer coastal range which extends further through California.
Mt. Tam: Mt. Tamalpais. A mountain in Marin County. Part of the outer coastal range, but separate from the Santa Cruz mountains.
outer coastal range: In the bay area, this is the Santa Cruz mountains and the Mt. Tam area.

taxonomic ranks

Although many sources claim that variety is a lower level of taxonomy than subspecies, in reality they are rarely nested. Indeed, iNaturalist does not allow a variety to be within a subspecies. Within botony, “it is sometimes recommended that the subspecies rank should be used to recognize geographic distinctiveness, whereas the variety rank is appropriate if the taxon is seen throughout the geographic range of the species.” [source]