The curious pipevine flower is our sole local representation of the birthworts, a plant family whose many other species are found mostly in warm and tropical areas of the world.

Winter in the manzanita grove is dramatic. As soon as the milky-pink urn-shaped flowers open around November, Anna’s hummingbirds appear in full force. Their chirps, chatters and wingbeats become the soundscape to the fog drenched hillside.

This little-understood shrub in the Daphne family fuels curiosity among its small network of fans: scientists, horticulturists and environmentalists. 

Being still is one of my favorite ways to be in the forest.

On a clear September morning, just a few steps from the parking area at Bear Valley Visitor Center in Point Reyes National Seashore, Richard gathered a group of his tracking school students around a picnic table. Just minutes into class, Richard had already dropped to the ground and was belly-crawling towards a small burrow.

Latifat Apatira is a botanical nature printmaker based in the Bay Area. As a physician who nearly became a botanist, the power of her creativity lies at the intersection of her passions and identities. Describing herself first as a Muslim-woman, this identity punctuates all the others: artist, daughter, sister, Nigerian-American, educator, plant person, and botanical activist. The many themes that make up her life’s work—faith and spirituality, the rich history of nature printing, botany, ethnobotany, and art—come together to form the whole of her creative work.

Around 9:00 p.m. during falcon fledging season, Craig Nikitas got a call from the San Francisco Fire Department asking him to come to Fire Station 35 on the pier. When he arrived, firefighters handed him a soaking-wet peregrine falcon fledgling in a box. She had been found grounded along the Embarcadero.

Tomales Point Trail at Point Reyes National Seashore, the northernmost trail in the park, traverses coastal dune and grassland plant communities.