How much damage does trampling do to wildflowers? No other state is as iconic for its flora as California, so it’s no surprise that thousands of Californians have flocked to Southern California to experience wildflower heaven in this year’s “super … Read more
Tag: plants
Spring Issue 2019
How a Plant and an Ant Help Each Other to Survive
Vetch and Argentine ants cooperate, exchanging food for protection.
Winter Issue 2019
Fantastic Ferns and Where to Find Them
Winter in the Bay Area is a good time to spot the lesser-known stage of ferns
Ask the Naturalist
Are There Any Plants That Do Not Photosynthesize?
Can a plant live without photosynthesizing?
Spring Issue 2018
Discover the Rare Blooms of Huckleberry Preserve in the East Bay Hills
Rare plants are common in California. Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve sits in an ideal location to display some of the rarest of them.
Summer Issue 2016
An Emissary of the Bay’s Forgotten Beaches
Hardly anyone knew about the plant called sea-blite when it lived on the shores of the San Francisco Bay. No one noticed when it disappeared. Now, thirty years after it went locally extinct, a freelance coastal ecologist sets out on an unlikely mission to bring it back.
Botany
The Native Plants of the Quiroste Valley
Better know some of the common plants of the Amah Mutsun world.
Fall Issue 2015
Mount Tam Plant Safaris Try to Produce the First Catalogue of All the Mountain’s Plants
Plant safaris aim to produce the first-ever complete catalog of the more than 950 plant species botanists believe grow on 18,000 acres of Mount Tamalpais
Botany
A Botanist, a Bay Area Island and a Big Surprise
In the mid 90s, botanist Mike Wood was contracted by the U.S. Navy to undertake a rare plant survey of Yerba Buena Island as the military prepared to leave the base. At the time he didn’t think the island would be of much botanical interest. But two decades later, he’s still going back.
Winter Issue 2012
Early-Spreading Wild Cucumber Climbs Fast Once It Starts to Rain
What’s cool as a cucumber, bitter as the biblical waters of Marah, and so well-rooted in the Bay Area that pulling it up is futile?
