This is a study of the Miocene Carmel flora of California, an evergreen laurel–oak forest that grew in a mild temperate (mean annual temperature of 15 degrees C), frost-free climate, with annual precipitation of about 760 mm (30 in.). Collectively, the Carmel and other Miocene floras like the San Pablo and Temblor (broad-leafed deciduous trees, with few evergreen species), the Puente (evergreen oak forest with chaparral species), the Mint Canyon, Ricardo, and Tehachapi (numerous arid subtropical scrub associated with oak woodland and chaparral species) suggest they foreshadowed a similar distribution of the different California vegetation zones today.