Elfin forests is a playful nickname given to several similar ecosystems (mainly in California) that are host to communities of tiny plants, insects, and even rodents, such as the California kangaroo rat, that collectively inhabit chaparral communities. Given that chaparral areas can be waterlogged in the winter, and arid and nearly desert-like in the summer, native plants in these elfin forest areas have adapted accordingly, and are generally much shorter, smaller, and compact than related plants elsewhere. Plants appearing miniature in size commonly found in elfin forests include fungi, Calyptridium umbellatum (also called "pussypaws"), species of Aeonium, alkali heath, and bird’s foot trefoil. Even trees and shrubs, including oak and madrone, rarely grow more than twenty feet tall in these communities. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is home to an elfin forest, which is partially within a section of the Zayante Sandhill Area. Saba in the Netherland Antilles contains forests referred to as Elfin forests due to its high altitude mist and mossy appearance.
