From an Entomologist’s Backyard
The sticky monkey flower, common on sunny Bay Area hillsides, hosts an array of insect visitors. Edward Ross’s intimate photos of these visits are but a small sample of the...
Botany
The Mount Diablo Buckwheat One Year Later
Botanists and nature lovers celebrated good news this spring as the Mount Diablo buckwheat (Eriogonum truncatum)—presumed extinct until its rediscovery in 2005—germinated and bloomed for a second year in the...
Ubiquitous Eucalyptus
Some folks love their scent and shade; others resent them for crowding out natives; most of us know they came from Australia and found a niche here. But few know...
Betting on Point Molate
With stunning views of the Bay and Marin, Richmond’s Point Molate has seen a lot of changes: It’s been a shrimp camp, a huge winery, and a Navy fuel depot....
Invasive Weeds Awareness Week
One of the challenges faced by rare native plants like the buckwheat is the spread of invasive nonnative plants. July 18 to 24 is Invasive Weeds Awareness Week, and weed...
Rediscovery of Mount Diablo Buckwheat
It’s rare that a species gets taken off what seems an ever-growing list of extinctions, but that’s exactly what happened in May, when Berkeley-based botanist Michael Park found about a...
Poolside Beauties
Vernal pools are havens for specialized species, including the endangered Contra Costa goldfield and the native solitary bee that pollinates it.
Wild Gardens
A visit to remnant native grasslands in Richmond or diverse oak woodlands in eastern Alameda County gives a taste of our region’s native habitats. But few of us are aware...
A Landscape Renewed by Fire
Enter the woods on Inverness Ridge and pause for a moment to listen. Natural history weaves itself into stories for those willing to hear—whether teased from the patterns in stone,...
Getting Burned
Fire dwells deep in the human psyche. It is among the oldest of words, the most elemental of tools, and the primary means by which early man projected himself onto...
