California Native Plant Society - Sanhedrin Chapter February 2015 Newsletter
***Don’t Miss Two Wonderful Evening Presentations ***
Edible & Medicinal Plants of California: A Bioregional Exploration By Tellur Fenner
When: February 19 at 7pm Where: Ukiah Garden Club, 1203 W. Clay St. Ukiah
California is home to a diverse array of edible & medicinal plants long valued for their nutritional/therapeutic effects. This presentation will explore many of the more common (and lesser known) native/naturalized plants found growing throughout the state, with a focus on historical as well as modern use. Tellur emphasizes the importance of developing a dynamic sensory awareness of plants via close observation, touching, tasting, and smelling. The evening should prove to be insightful and rewarding for anyone interested in knowing more about the unique (and useful) flora of our state.
Tellur Fenner is a clinical herbalist/educator and has traveled extensively throughout the U.S while studying, collecting, and using plant medicines from all the major bioregions. He attended the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine, the California School of Herbal Studies, and received his Bachelor's Degree from Prescott College where he majored in Western Herbalism. As an herbalist of the “generalist” persuasion, he believes in the importance of an interdisciplinary practice which integrates the study of botany, ethnobotany, botanical pharmacy, human physiology, phytochemistry, and other biological sciences. In addition to offering regular weekend workshops throughout the year, he also runs a comprehensive 12-month (240 hour) classroom/field based academic program titled: “Edible & Medicinal Plants of California: A Bioregional Exploration”. He is the owner/director of the Blue Wind Botanical Medicine Clinic and Education Center located in Ukiah, CA.
Grasses of California: An Evening with Botanist James P. Smith
When: March 17 at 7pm Where: Ukiah Civic Center, 300 Seminary Ave, Ukiah
Grasses and grasslands provide a number of ecological and economic services. Despite their general dominance by non-native species, California grasslands remain one of the most bio-diverse systems in the world. There are more than 550 grass species found in California and over 300 are native to the Golden State. Grasses are found in almost every climate—from cool, wet forests to hot, dry deserts. These reduced flowers are also among the most difficult plants to identify. Join us for an evening celebrating the past, present, and future of California grasses with our very own agrostologist. James will guide us through the grass family; he will explain grass structure, their economic and ecological importance, and why they are so successful around the world. JP Smith will have copies of his book available for sale and signing.
James P. Smith is Professor Emeritus of Botany at Humboldt State University. James is the guru of grasses, he has taught courses in plant taxonomy, agrostology, poisonous plants and economic botany. He is the author of Vascular Plant Families and Keys to the Genera of Grasses of the Conterminous United States. He served as an editor and contributor to the treatment of the grass family in The Jepson Manual, is current curator of the HSU herbarium and author of the new book Field Guide to Grasses of California.
Field Trips March 28, Saturday - Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve, Pruitt Creek watershed February 15, Sunday - Reeves Canyon This jaunt will explore the backcountry of the This is an easy walk in the shady moist recesses of Reserve’s Ross Addition, starting at 10 a.m. at the Reeves Canyon to look for the seldom seen early Pruitt Creek trailhead along Orr Springs Rd., about blooms of the fetid adder's tongue (Scoliopus 1 mile east of the old-growth grove parking area bigelovii), an endemic species of coastal California. (about 1.5 miles beyond Orr Springs from Ukiah). There may be many other native species to observe We start out in a riparian stand of redwoods, often as a result of the warm and dry conditions. Meet at dappled with numerous early-flowering herbs, then Mario’s restaurant in Redwood Valley just of Hwy. meander upslope through Douglas-fir and hardwood 101 at 10:30 to carpool. Leader: Cathy Monroe forests, oak woodlands, chaparral, across grassland, rocky talus slopes, and a few small wetlands. Be March 1, Sunday – Lichen field trip to the UC prepared for one or more creek crossings – Hopland Research and Extension Center waterproof or old shoes and walking sticks are We’ll explore the richness of these diverse advised. Otherwise, pack a lunch, plenty of water, organisms and the variety of growth forms and and prepare for a moderately strenuous walk of up substrates they occupy. An afternoon lab session to 5 miles. with dissecting microscopes will allow closer inspection of the constituent lichen parts and you I will post a Reserve plant list to the Sanhedrin and will be able to practice keying to genus and species Milo Baker Chapter websites prior to the trip. Ride- some of the specimens collected. Bring a hand lens sharing is strongly encouraged, as parking at the and lichen books if you have them plus your lunch. trailhead is limited. Sonoma County parties should Meet at 10am at the Shippey Center at HREC; or meet at 8a.m. at the River Rd. – Hwy. 101 9:30 in the commuter lot. From Ukiah, allow about 45 minutes CVS shopping to the Reserve. Trip goes to 4pm. Please contact me center on if you plan to attend, and as well, if you Orchard Ave. subsequently cancel. Trip leader: Peter Warner: in Ukiah to (707) 666-9071; [email protected] carpool. Leaders: Jen April 4, Saturday - Low Gap Annual Plant Riddell and Inventory Vishnu. Wraps This is a delightful early spring plant walk up around 2pm. identifying the common local wildflowers. Everyone will receive an extensive list of plants that This trip will require a minimum number of five have bloomed during the first week of April in Low participants in order to occur and there will also be Gap Park over the past 33 years! Meet at the a maximum allowed. Please RSVP via phone or parking lot just past the Playhouse, opposite Ukiah email by February 21: (707) 467-1341 High School on Low Gap Road at 9am. Bring a [email protected] light lunch and hand lens. Leader: Mark Albert
March 22, Sunday – Celebrate the Spring April 19, Sunday – Low Gap Park Equinox at Low Gap Park Wildflower Walk This is a family friendly walk. We will not be Celebrate Spring with a wildflower walk in Low botanizing as much as getting out to see what Gap park. This is a family friendly walk. We will wildflowers we can discover this month as we walk not be botanizing as much as getting out to see what the park's trails. Bring field guides if you want and wildflowers we can discover this month as we walk wear good walking shoes. We hope to share copies the park's trails. Bring field guides if you want and of the new park wildflower guide. Meet at the wear good walking shoes. We hope to share copies parking lot at 1:00. Leader: Cathy Monroe of the new park wildflower guide. Meet at the parking lot at 1:00. Leader: Cathy Monroe
We’ll spend the day wandering through Lost April 26, Sunday, - Grass ID walk along eastside Valley, an upland, serpentinite soil-influenced Lake Mendocino grassland. As well, brief forays into the adjacent Want to know more about those inconspicuous chaparral and woodlands are likely. With some monocots called grasses? Come join us for a fun- more rain, the diversity and floral displays could be filled morning exploring and identifying grasses in rewarding. Ride-sharing will be necessary for this the oak woodlands herbaceous understory. We will site visit. The walking pace will likely be easy, but look at annual and perennial grasses and talk about be prepared for lots of sun and perhaps heat. I’ll the differences between natives, non-natives and develop a plant list for posting on CNPS chapter invasive species. Learn the websites. The Ukiah BLM website has a pdf vegetative and inflorescence version of an area map available on the agency’s characteristics of the most website. Trip could go to 4pm. common species of our area. Sturdy shoes, a hat, and hand Meeting place: CCC headquarters on Old River Rd., lens are recommended for just south of Mill Creek Road, 9am. It is best to this moderate hike. park in the lot to the north of the buildings. Please contact me to indicate your interest in this trip. Directions from Ukiah: Take Leader: Peter Warner: (707) 666-9071 Perkins Street east until you [email protected] hit the end where you turn left on to Redemeyer Rd. Hordeum May 17, Sunday - Low Gap Park Botanical Hike, Take Redemeyer Rd. past led by California Naturalists Eldorado Estates and look for Deerwood Drive on This hike is approximately 4 miles long and your right. Follow Deerwood Drive to its end (~2 includes 3 adjoining trails. There are 14 miles). You will pass a large water tower on your informational stops. The hike starts near the dog right and then the road starts to descend. A short park at Orr Creek Trail, continues on Canyon Creek uphill section leads to the Deerwood Trail Head Trail to City View Trail and returns on the road west where you’ll see a parking area at the end of the of the dog park. The hike passes through pavement - that's where we’ll meet at 8:30am. remarkably different habitats and diverse vegetation Leaders: Allison Rofe and Diana Jeffery. considering the small area it traverses. See and learn about: native plants, wildflowers, geology and plant May 10, Sunday - Lost Valley (BLM South Cow communities. Meet in the parking lot at 9:00am. Mtn. OHV Recreation Area) Leaders: Andrea Davis, Bob Neale, and Tom Hunt.
Other Activities and Events
Ukiah Garden Club Events Featuring Native Plants (contact Garden Club for details) April 8 - Landscaping with California Native Plants 12:30 p.m. Presenter: Jerry Shaul April 15 - Tour of Jerry and Jo Shaul's Native Plant Garden outside Lakeport. May 3 - Ukiah Garden Club Tour including two native plant gardens
Redwood Valley Outdoor Education Program (RVOEP) Film Series (6 consecutive Fridays) February 20 - March 27, Six consecutive Fridays for Outdoor Education Film Series at the Civic Center. Films start at 6:30pm.
Miscellaneous March 19 - Board meeting, 6:30pm, Ukiah Valley Garden Club May 1, 2 - Mendocino College Plant Sale April 16 – John Phillips – Native Oak Care – 7:00pm, Ukiah Valley Garden Club
Yerba Buena, our good herb of the wild ~ Cathy Monroe
Now in the winter, when bare deciduous plants allow a deeper look into our coastal woods, you might notice more of the evergreen understory, including the lowly yerba buena sprawling along the ground. It was named the good herb by the Spanish padres when they were introduced to its gentle medicinal qualities by the Native Californians. They named the wild yerba buena, “yerba buena del campo”, to distinguish it from “yerba buena del poso”, the good herb of the well or garden mint. And, it is, indeed. Its lovely minty fragrance draws your attention. Small oval leaves with scalloped edges grow along long graceful stems, interlacing into a spicy evergreen mat. Little white tubular flowers, solitary and bilateral, grow at the axils of the leaves later in the spring. Stems will form roots at the leaf axils whenever they come in close contact with the soil.
Yerba buena is a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae) having the characteristic square stems and opposite leaves. I found some confusion with its Latin name, most commonly listed as Satureja douglasii, but now cited as Clinopodium douglasii in the current Jepson eFlora. It was decided that true Saturejas, which include winter and summer savories, are only Old World plants. However related, yerba buena has been used for cooking in place of these culinary herbs.
Naturally occurring in the Coast Ranges from Los Angeles to British Columbia and Alaska at elevations below 3,000 feet, yerba buena will grow in most all soil types. It tends to grow in dappled shade in such various communities as chaparral, mixed evergreen, and redwood forest, While it is associated with moist areas, it will survive in areas with rainfall as low as 15 inches, especially if there is fog drip. It grew abundantly in the hills of San Francisco and was the name of the original posada there between the mission and the presidio until the U.S. occupation in 1846 when the soon to become famous city was renamed for the mission.
Yerba buena has been used as a folk remedy for soothing the stomach, colds, fevers, gas, colic, cramps, and insomnia. The Chumash people used it to treat parasitic worms and as a deodorant before hunting. Leaves can be placed in clothes as a perfume, but by far its most righteous use is as a deliciously aromatic tea. Members of local Native American families have used this tea as a general health tonic throughout the winter. Michael Moore in his book Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West states that little constituent analysis has been done of the plant’s chemistry, surprising to me with its long history of medicinal use.
And now that you are looking forward to enjoying some yerba buena tea, I suggest growing your own rather than wildcrafting. Wild populations have been impacted by invasives and habitat destruction and have an affinity for growing with poison oak. And if you try to purchase some tea you will find that what is marketed as yerba buena is really just common mint tea, so growing it is your best option. The cultivation of yerba buena may offer some special opportunities in the future. A chapter on yerba buena is included in the recent book North American Cornucopia: Top 100 Indigenous Food Plants, dedicated to the most important 100 native food plants of North America north of Mexico that have achieved commercial success or have substantial market potential.
Yerba buena is a charming native perennial groundcover to include in your garden that can be propagated by seed, rooted divisions, or cuttings. Annie’s Annuals, a California purveyor of plants, lists the many ways it is a perfect plant for California gardens:
California native, drought tolerant, deer resistant, great for shade, delightfully fragrant foliage, edible and useful, groundcover (can spread from 3 - 6 feet), clay tolerant, sand tolerant, dry shade plant under oaks, great for containers or hanging baskets, grows in nutrient poor soil, handsome with rocks, can take sun with some misting, tough and long lived. And because yerba buena spreads above ground slowly rooting at its stem axils and not with underground rhizomes, it is not invasive. Almost too good to be true.
With these fine attributes and relative ease to establish, it’s amazing that this plant has been so overlooked and underutilized, especially when places like the National Gardening Association newsletter have featured it in an article, “Best Herbs for Teas”. I hope besides enjoying your encounters with yerba buena in the wild that you will invite it into your garden and revel in this good herb’s tonic tea for years to come.
Local Sources for yerba buena: California Flora Nursery: http://www.calfloranursery.com; 707-528-8813, Fulton, CA (Sonoma Co.) Annie’s Annuals: http://www.anniesannuals.com
The 2015 CNPS Conservation Conference - Big Conference, Big Message ~ Geri Hulse-Stephens
The 2015 Conservation Conference (Jan 13-17, San Jose, California) jumped right into the weightiest issues in conservation. It opened with Michael Soule, father of Conservation Biology, who spoke of the Anthropocene era that we have now arrived in; an evolutionary roadblock where speciation has come to an end “not for micro- organisms”, he blithely added. He went on to say that speciation requires long periods of undisturbed time to occur and depends on isolation. This kind of isolation no longer exists. He talked about keystone species- like the large predators that keep the balance of an ecosystem, and of foundation species such as quaking aspen whose expansive groves provide plentiful resources for birds, mammals, and invertebrates. He ended by posing the question: how do we protect these critical components?
Each attendee had their own unique composite of understanding and ah ha’s that emerged from the choices they made of what to attend at the conference. For me a dynamic moment played out when Glen Holstein from the Sacramento Chapter of CNPS explained how the misconception that the Great Valley of California was once covered in native bunchgrasses had occurred and how this has driven much of our restoration Hosackia rosea efforts. He talked of Fredrick Clements who theorized that since bunchgrasses dominated the Great Plains, it stands they were the original dominant vegetation of California’s vast, flat, central valley as well. Clements had placed the “east of the Rockies template” over California’s Central Valley despite the fact that rainfall patterns and species composition were vastly different. He saw it as a prairie, like the grass dominated fields of his home state Nebraska – the name “grassland” stuck and has been used since.
There was no place in Clements bunchgrass theory for the annual forbs that dominated California’s Central Valley. Holstein sited John Muir in his famous essay of 1894 “The Bee-Pastures” who said that “The Great Central Plain of California during the months of March, April, and May was… so marvelously rich that, in walking from one end of it to the other, a distance of more than 400 miles, your foot would press about a hundred flowers at every step”. He also cited Richard Minnich’s book “California’s Fading Wildflowers” that compiled the accounts of early Spanish explorers who found no feed for their horses in the Great Central Valley after the forb bloom had passed. He went on to say that while there is protection for native grasslands in California there is no protection for forb-lands because historically they were not recognized. He proposed that a new vegetation type be named: “California Prairie”, to replace “Valley Grassland”, that would provide protection for this greatly diminished natural community in California. Todd Keeler-Wolf, co author of the Vegetation Manual of California spoke up from the audience and said. “We will do that”. See Fremontia Vol 39:2 / 39:3, May / September 2011 for Glen Holstein’s original article.
Another dynamic moment was when Dr. Robert Holland showed pictures of the encroachment of human activities on the vernal pools of the state in the last seven years mostly by agriculture and particularly by almond ranches. Vernal pools that had once been in the matrix of a greater wet meadow habitat have been encroached on all sides by development. This begs the question, how do we protect not just the rare species or rare habitats but the natural systems that drive these communities? Holland said, with a little smile, that when he outlines sensitive habitat he uses a thick pencil- ie. the width of that pencil line may preserve a buffer of 50 to 100 feet, depending on the scale of the map, that could extend protection to this larger functioning area. Discussion led to the model used in the state coastal zone of Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas (ESHA’s) that require a 100-foot buffer around sensitive resources and the importance of incorporating this model into protection in the rest of the state.
Stuart Weiss, Creekside Center for Earth Observation, addressed the climate water deficit (CWD) on the future of California vegetation; the measure of drought stress that will predict tree death. He explained that when the rainy season is more compressed, plants continue to lose water through evapotranspiration and become stressed even though water managers may have full reservoirs. CWD has gone up in the last 30 years. He sited models that indicate at this time 90% of the redwood forests throughout the state receive at least 800 mm of rainfall per year and that by the end of the century only 25% of the redwood forest community is expected to receive this amount.
Amidst all this was a fine banquet with Jared Farmer as the featured speaker, a successful live auction (Carol Witham’s rubber boots went for $1,200), an evening of poetry reading, a songfest and music jam, and a California native plant botanical illustration and photography exhibit. The left- brain got a little rest.
The conference organizers finished the conference with some powerful heavy hitters that included Paul Ehrlich, Jack Dangermond, Rebecca Moore and Peter Raven. But Asyneuma prenanthoides the words I was left with were from two speakers, Michael Soule and Paul Ehrlich. Soule, at the end of his talk said that kids imprint on habitats and the most important thing you can do is get them away from lighted screens and help them get into wild areas. Paul Ehrlich ended his talk saying that conservation cannot be addressed without addressing the population issue, that we have exceeded the carrying capacity of the planet by three times. And that all the issues: climate change, sea level rise, invasive plant and pest increases, reduction of pollinators, increase in greenhouse gases, toxics, pollutants, are all a result of human population expansion. The one thing you can do, he said, is support equal rights for women worldwide. I’ll leave you with that.
Thanks to the hard working organizers and all the hundreds (yes, hundreds!) of volunteers who made this excellent, well orchestrated, dynamic and far-reaching event possible.
Book Review Gardening with a Wild Heart: Restoring California's Native Landscapes at Home University of California Press, 2007
Judith Larner Lowry wrote this early book on Restoration Gardening. Restoration Gardening is about bringing some of the original plants of our area back into our gardens and recognizing the joy and beauty this environment creates and the healthy web of life it sustains; the birds, insects and mammals. Judith fully and poetically makes a case for the beauty and health of this world.
“I no longer focus on the drought-tolerant aspects of native plants. The reasons to garden with locally occurring native plants have more to do with joining in, with setting in motion interrupted processes that are unique to this place. It has to do with recreating a garden that connects the gardener with that larger garden beyond the fence.”
Judith is steeped in decades of experience and she shares much practical information with a Naturalist’s delight. "Gardening with a Wild Heart is Judith Larner Lowry's splendidly articulated account of twenty years of what she calls "gardening at the seam...between the wild and the cultivated."...She is practical, sensual, philosophical, and above all there on the land...This is a wonderful book full of lore and practical knowledge and beautiful writing...This, for me, is better than reading John Muir. It is real, it is local, it is alive and it is beautiful. Read this book and share it with your friends.” ~William McClung, Growing Natives Research Newsletter
Judith’s website, Larner Seeds, sells seeds for native wildflowers, grasses, shrubs, vines and trees, as well as some live native plants. You’ll find her entries on each wildflower informative, along with her suggestions for successfully growing wildflowers and other native plants. You can also sign up for her email newsletter. Located in Bolinas, there is an emphasis on coastal plants. http://www.larnerseeds.com -Available in our Library system.
~Gail Johnson
The Effect of Ozone on Plants and Politics ~ Chuck Williams
Growing up in southern California in the 1950’s , when scientists were figuring out what smog was all about, we spent a lot of time in the mountains and desert escaping it. Initially it blotted out the surrounding hills then caused coughing spells when breathed deeply, and later we learned to recognize its effect on the forests: pine trees were becoming naked. With only a brush of needles at the tip of branches, you could see right thru the trees. Ozone absorbed by leaves reduces photosynthesis and slows growth, making the plant more susceptible to disease, insects, harsh weather, other pollutants and competition from invasive species. Some common plants sensitive to ozone are: Black Cherry, Quaking Aspen, Cottonwood, Ponderosa Pine, as well as many lichens.
Ozone in the Stratosphere protects us from Ultraviolet radiation, but ozone on the ground is bad for living things. Ground level ozone is part of smog created by the interaction of sunlight with man-made chemicals released into the air from our cars and industries. In 2006 the EPA scientists recommended limiting ozone to no more then 60-70 parts per billion (ppb). President Bush signed it in at 75 ppb. In 2012 President Obama backed down from approving it at 65-70 ppb in the face of Republican furor and his approaching re-election. Environmentalists sued him, winning in 2014. Now the EPA is recommending it be limited at the 65-70ppb level. They are inviting public comment until March 17, 2015. Here is where you can write or email your input:
Send comments by e-mail to [email protected]; SUBJECT LINE: Docket ID No. EPA- HQ-OAR-2008- 0699, or mail your comments to: Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20460, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0699. For more info: www.epa.gov/glo/actions.html The Sanhedrin Chapter Needs You
We are seeking individuals to assist our present board members with a variety of tasks. If you would like to serve on the board and/or take part in growing our chapter, please contact us at [email protected].
These board positions are open to chapter members: Field Trips and Programs Outreach and Publicity Sales (books, poster, etc.) Newsletter
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CNPS-Sanhedrin Chapter 1651 Deerwood Dr. Ukiah, CA 95482
CNPS – Sanhedrin Chapter – February 2015 Newsletter If you have an interesting article, photo, or idea for a fieldtrip, please send to the newsletter editor: Kerry Heise ([email protected])
California Native Plant Society – Sanhedrin Chapter Spring 2013 NEWSLETTER