Many ecologists include California's Sagebrush Scrub plant community in the Great Basin zone. Intermountain Flora separates the two and is probably right. The Great Basin is colder, harsher, and the growing season is later and shorter. The Sagebrush Scrub plant community usually has a faster draining, less alkaline soil and you can grow some excellent commercial crops like apples. Apples in the Great Basin are iffy at best. Native plants grow likewise; many of the species that can exist in places like Frazier Park, Susanville, or the Alabama Hills cannot survive the colder winters in the Great Basin. The opposite is often true; many of the Great Basin plant species cannot survive the hotter, drier, Sagebrush Scrub plant community of California. The Antelope Bushes (Purshia spp.) seem to be indicator plants. Purshia tridentata lives in the Great Basin, while Purshia glandulosa lives in the Sagebrush Scrub; hybrids of the two occur where they overlap. Both species wander into the Pinyon Juniper Woodland and even sometimes other close communities.

The creeks running down from the Sierra Nevada mountains support a wider range of species because the Sierran rainfall is acidic, while the natural soils of the area are slightly alkaline. In those areas you can find Golden Currant (Ribes aureum), Antelope Bush (Purshia tridentata var. glandulosa, Purshia mexicana var. stanburyana) and a number of other species hiding out.