Hard Time to Be an Oak
About one-eighth of California's land area is covered in oak woodlands. Despite that vast acreage, it's hard to be an oak in California. Threats to oak survival include the effects...
Botany
Dinosaur Plants
While living dinosaurs are nowhere to be found in California these days, you can see recognizable descendants of plants that lived with them--right here in the modern Bay Area.
Sudden Oak Death Blitz
The deadly plant disease known as sudden oak death (SOD) has spread to 14 coastal counties, and according to UC Berkeley’s Forest Pathology and Mycology Lab, the continuing epidemic threatens...
World’s Smartest Molds
Watch out for these unusual creatures next time you’re walking in a wet forest.
Book Review: California’s Fading Wildflowers
by Richard A Minnich, University of California Press, 2008, 344 pages, $49.95. This scholarly book by a UC professor of earth sciences surveys historical observations of California flora and compares...
Book Review: Nature’s Beloved Son
by Bonnie J. Gisel with images by Stephen J. Joseph, Heyday Books, November 2008, 256 pages, $45.00 John Muir is best known as a mountaineer and wilderness advocate, but he...
Fall of the Buckeye Ball
The dramatic fall silhouette of the California buckeye shows off its giant seeds, that largest of any of our native plants.
Naturalist’s Notebook: There’s More to Poison Oak
Get a few rash ideas about poison oak!
Berries of the Forest
The classic image of a redwood forest is one of stately tall trees, dense shade, and lots of green. The columnar trunks of the giant trees draw our gaze up...
