A visual explanation of how fire helps release the seeds of knobcone, bishop, and Monterey pine trees, plus a fun experiment to try at home!
Naturalist’s Notebook: Fire Pines
June 23, 2021 •
Botany
The study and science of plants.
Listen Closely, the Trees are Talking
March 30, 2021 •
When people say that trees “talk” to each other, that’s a concept that rests, in part, on an extraordinary and microscopic relationship between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and the roots of 90 percent of all plants.
Meet the Rare Dawn Redwood at a Bay Area Park
February 4, 2021 •
Rare and once thought extinct, the dawn redwood is an ancient relative of the more familiar coast redwood.
San Bruno Mountain: An Ark of Diversity
January 3, 2021 •
The plants that grow on this 2,400-acre island amid a sea of city—including these four endemic manzanita species—help make San Bruno Mountain a world biological hotspot.
How the Mistakenly Named “Himalayan” Blackberry Became a California Summer Tradition
July 7, 2020 •
With five to seven leaves resembling outstretched fingers on the palm of a hand, the blackberry Rubus armeniacus grows from curved, blood-red stalks resembling veins. Sonoma County horticulturalist Luther Burbank acquired the seeds in 1885 from a trader in India, … Read more
The Tree That’s Rare, Endangered and Common
June 21, 2020 •
Should we worry about the Monterey pine going extinct?
Naturalist’s Notebook: Irises Through Time
June 21, 2020 •
Try tracking a single iris over time.
Can California Reverse Biodiversity Decline?
March 24, 2020 •
At a time when development is paving over habitat and climate change is transforming ecosystems at an unprecedented pace, California Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot says the state has a moral imperative to focus on biodiversity.
Live Biodiversity
March 24, 2020 •
There’s a certain predictable expression that frequently settles on the face of the friend or family member I’m talking to when I say the word “biodiversity.” I’d call it tolerantly bored.
Dutchman’s Pipe is the Only Pipevine Native to California
January 6, 2020 •
Aristolochia californica can be found in Northern and Central California.