Common Reed (Phragmites australis) by  Michael Wood  Yerba Buena Newsletter: December 2018 Vol. 32. No. 4 As my wife and I continue our travels, most […]

Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia) by  Michael Wood  Greetings from the southern Black Forest of Germany, my wife’s Heimat. This report comes to you from the […]

Extinction is the loss of a species from throughout its range. Extirpation, also referred to as local extinction, is the loss of a species from […]

If you garden in San Francisco, or just about anywhere in the western U.S., you’re likely familiar with Oxalis. A popular potted plant in its […]

Prior to 1835, Spanish and Mexican settlements here were restricted to the areas around Mission Dolores and the Presidio, which were founded in 1776. Even […]

In my previous column, I presented a project on which I’ve been working for several years; a compilation of plant species lists prepared over the […]

San Francisco is blessed for many reasons…natural beauty, climate, being far away from Washington D.C., and, of course, a rather remarkable diversity of native plant […]

If you’ve never heard of Fremont star lily, you probably won’t be bothered by the taxonomic changes it has recently undergone. Known as Zigadenus fremontii […]

This past September I had the extreme good fortune of being invited to assist with a mapping effort of the coastal dune vegetation south of […]

If you’re surprised to learn that California is host to native species of cucumbers, you’re probably in good company. The group that brings us the […]

A lot has changed since I sat down to write for the previous newsletter. I’m referring, of course, to the release of the second edition […]

As you recall, the flowering vascular plants (the angiosperms [which means “enclosed seed”], Division Magnoliophyta) are divided into two groups, the dicots (plants whose seedlings […]

If you’re a gardener or a transplant from east of the Mississippi, when you reminisce about spring, you probably think “dogwoods”. Cultivars of eastern dogwood […]

Even still, after all these years of exploring hills and dales, there’s one group of wildflowers of which I cannot resist stopping to photograph. Whether […]

With blossoms reminiscent of red lipsticks on a stalk, scarlet monkeyflower is eye-catching indeed. A perennial herb found in moist to wet areas along streams […]

San Francisco woodland star is one of those pretty little herbs you encounter in the early spring on our coastal hillsides, along with similar beauties […]

Who doesn’t love to walk along the seashore? To gaze out over the waves toward the horizon? Maybe catch a sunset? Of course, while you’re […]

If you’ve walked through any of the Bay Area’s grasslands in the summer, you’ve no doubt notice patches of dainty daisies with small white or […]