by Linda H. Beidleman and Eugene N. Kozloff, University of California Press, 2003, 505 pages, $29.95 (www.ucpress.edu). Linda H. Beidleman, an instructor at UC Berkeley’s Jepson Herbarium, and Eugene N. Kozloff, a professor at University of Washington, have put … Read more
The study and science of plants.
Book Review: Introduction to Trees of the San Francisco Bay Region
by Glenn Keator, University of California Press, 2002, 251 pages, $14.95 (www.ucpress.edu). Bay Area botanist Glenn Keator, author of The Life of an Oak: An Intimate Portrait (Heyday Books, 1998), has now assembled the well-written, easy-to-use Introduction to Trees … Read more
The Essential Tree
It’s almost impossible to imagine the California landscape without oak woodlands. But this most familiar and prolific habitat faces a number of serious threats, including unchecked suburban development and Sudden Oak Death. Fortunately, many parks in the Bay Area, including those of the East Bay Regional Parks, offer welcome refuge for a variety of oak woodlands.
Confronting Sudden Oak Death
Although the disease is popularly known as Sudden Oak Death, the funguslike organism that causes it, Phytophthora ramorum, is also responsible for less severe symptoms in a number of other native and nonnative plants. The continually growing list of affected … Read more
Oak Woodlands Resources
To learn more about California’s oaks, contact the following organizations: California Oak Foundation 1212 Broadway, Suite 810 Oakland, CA 94612 510-763-0282 www.californiaoaks.org California oak advocacy and education organization. Online monthly oak report, membership newsletter, oak tree care information, and merchandise. … Read more
Penetrating the Chaparral
Though it’s the most extensive natural habitat in California, chaparral’s brambly ways discourage human visitors. Still, plenty of wildlife finds sanctuary in its tangled, brushy universe, as do the dormant seeds of wildflowers as they await the inevitable next fire, forceful sculptor of this complex landscape.
Why is manzanita bark so smooth and red?
What a seemingly simple, but deceptively complex question! Ultimately, perhaps, the least speculative—but not completely satisfactory—answer is that manzanitas inherited this trait from their ancestors. There is compelling evidence that manzanitas (genus Arctostaphylos) are derived from a group of trees, … Read more
Starting with the Oaks
A winding path through Kathy Welch’s garden leads to an oak grove. Photo by Saxon Holt. Kathy Welch had already begun to consider renovating her yard in the Oakland hills when she made a few discoveries. “I found a trillium … Read more
Book Review: Wildflowers of Monterey County: A Field Companion
by David J. Gubernick (photography) and Vern Yadon (commentary and data) Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History and Carmel Publishing Co., 2002 198 pages, $28 (800) 731-3322 This visually seductive book is organized around the six botanical regions of Monterey … Read more
Claiming the Rubble
Along the Bay’s eastern shoreline, an odd collection of artists, shorebirds, and plants have made their mark on a little-known former landfill known as the Albany Bulb. Now the Bulb’s unruly landscape finds itself in the midst of the debate over the design of the new Eastshore State Park. But you can still explore and unwind at this decidedly eclectic open space.