Local Ecologist Blog

Tuliptree, bird of paradise, bottlebrush. Common names of commonly seen plants in Berkeley. The names derive from the appearance of each plant. The flowers of the tuliptree, Liriodendron tulipfera , look like tulips. The bird-of-paradise flower, Strelitzia genus, resembles the bird of paradise ( Paradisaeidae family). Obviously the flower of the bottlebrush tree, Callistemon genus, resembles a bottle brush. The 16th century name for the ginkgo ( Ginkgo biloba ) was ya-chio-tzu which means "a tree with leaves like a duck's foot," according to Arthur Plotnick in The Urban Tree Book . Two common names for the catalpa ( Catalpa speciosa ), which I have not seen in Berkeley, are derived from the appearance of the plant's seed pod: cigar tree and Indian bean tree. I think the pods, pictured below, look like a green bean or vanilla bean. Source: USDA Plants Database Another tree with a common name derived from the appearance of its fruit is the syc

Broken hydrant on Bancroft Avenue The firefighters who shut off the hydrant from a manhole in the street received a hearty round of applause from the crowd. Imported Comment In response to: Photo du jour: Urban geyser Comment from : Rob [Visitor] wow, what a picture!

The Ecology Center in Berkeley is a great resource for many things eco, from reference books to housewares, from posters to playing cards like the ones pictured above. These six cards are from a deck titled "Local Birds - Northern California Backyard and Trail Birds." The six species pictured on the cards are commonly seen in my backyard. I have not done anything special to attract these species. All the plants in the backyard where there when I moved into the duplex four years ago. I have added new plants to the front and side yards. I borrowed a book from the library about attracting birds, but it is not useful for the Bay Area; it's perfect for folks living in the Prairies or on the Atlantic seaboard. I turned to my personal copy of American Wildlife & Plants , a text I have mentioned several times on this blog. The list of cultivated and wild plants visited by hummingbirds in warmer parts of the U.S. and on the Pacific seaboard are numerous, so I will on

The Neighborhood History Hunt Game designed by Gingi Fulcher took approximately 90 minutes to complete at a leisurely walking pace. The deadline for submission was May 19, but if you can get a copy of the hunt, I recommend doing the walk. Please note that in this post I do not present the items in the order given on the game form nor do I include all the clues and factoids on the game form. I enjoyed searching for items in the hunt, but my favorite part of the game was discovering items not on the official hunt, like the checkered stepping stone in the tree lawn at 1806 Allston, pictured above. A few of the clues were located in the ground which I liked. For example, two of the last clues were found on utility covers, one at MLK and Haste and the other in the Civic Center Park. The first item on the hunt was the Rainbow Ranch Cafe at MLK and Allston, pictured above. It used to be Robin's Sandwich Shop. Down the street from the cafe is a statue in memory of Sgt. Jimmie H.

Yes, this book, whose cover features a squirrel on a patch of green lawn, holds insights about energy and water. I highly recommend Suburban Safari by Hannah Holmes, pictured above. Here are a two excerpts related to landscape and energy. It's unusually hot in the East Bay and we are on the cusp of summer water rationing, so Hannah Holmes's observations and well-researched findings are salient! ...the flood-irrigated neighborhood where we began our tour was cool and shady, wasn't it? That shade keeps the entire city a little cooler. And those water-hog trees, grasses, and shrubs cycle water much faster than desert plants do, and that evaporation cools the city even more. So which would you have? More water use and less air-conditioner use? Or less water use and more AC? A water shortage, or fossil-fuel smoke in the air? Chris chuckles. Heh heh. He has no easy answer. However, the university owns a plot of Phoenix houses and plans to landscape them three differ

Could parking space become the next living space? asked Elsa Brenner of the New York Times in an article of the same name. Brenner wrote of a Westchester County Department of Planning study that proposes to increase housing for moderate-income households by building on office park parking lots. Brenner, quoting from the study, notes that office parks, constructed with roads and utilities, lower development costs on these sites. Where do trees fit? Well, the article (I am really enjoying my Times subscription) reminded me of photographs I took of the North Berkeley and Ashby BART parking lots. I'd like to share some thoughts about both lots. First, note the large stature trees, pictured below, that provide visual privacy between the North Berkeley station and houses to its west. Also note the small stature trees, pictured above, in the expanse of asphalt on the western side of the North Berkeley BART station. Then, compare the shade profile of a short stature tree, in this

The weather could not have been better on May 10 - sunny but not hot and blue skies. The Grassroots Greening walk and the Hidden Gems bike tours were well attended and enjoyed by all. I won't recount the entirety of the tours here - join us next year for the full experience. Atop the bridge over the Cordonices Creek along the Ohlone Greenway sit two quail sculptures. Cordonices is Spanish for quail (read more about Spanish derived place names in Berkeley ). Note the step design of the bridge. The height from the trail to the top of the railing is appropriate for cycle safety while pedestrians can step up to the railing to view the creek below. Dave Drummond of California Habitats Indigenous Activists met the walkers to discuss Ohlone culture and plant management. The grass to Dave's right is purple needle grass, California's state grass. The plants that comprise the coastal prairie restoration project are local to within three to four miles of the site (Ohlone Gree