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Plants Fungi

Strawberry plant
Park E-Ventures Article

Our Romantic Plant of the Season

Love is in the air! With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, there will be many sweet treats popping up on grocery store shelves and on restaurant menus to entice you and your Valentine. Many will contain one of nature’s sweetest offerings: strawberries.
turkey
Park E-Ventures Article

Family Dinner: Holiday Foods' Park Relatives

At your next holiday feast, impress friends and family with some fresh knowledge. Read on to learn the origins of popular holiday foods and discover their closest relatives, found in our parks. Please don’t forage for these items (quite a few are inedible)—but fill your plate with some food for...
toyon, Christmas berry
Park E-Ventures Article

Holly-daze: A Case of Mistaken Identity

This plant, erroneously identified as “holly,” gave Hollywood its name. And its merry berries certainly lend a festive air to the parks during the holiday season. Read on to unmask this mystery plant.
Acorns
Park E-Ventures Article

Critical Mast: The Boom and Bust of Acorns

How many times have I walked under the same trees and failed to look up, staring at my own two feet as I walk? Well today was different, someone told me that the oak trees of California are masting, and I wanted to see if it was true.
Franciscan Manzanita
Park E-Ventures Article

Back from the Brink of Extinction

It was three years ago that the Franciscan manzanita was discovered along the old Doyle Drive. How is that manzanita doing in its new home? And what are the plans to re-establish a sustainable population of the plant and the other species that historically grew with it?
Coyote Brush
Park E-Ventures Article

The Importance of So Much Little White Fluff

One sure sign of “summer” in the Golden Gate National Parks is the sight of fluffy white seed blanketing hillsides. But where do these seeds come from? Where are they going? And why do we care? A Presidio seed collector takes a closer look.
Presidio Native Plant Nursery
Park E-Ventures Article

Help Name a Shady New Building

The Presidio Native Plant Nursery—one of six nurseries in the Golden Gate National Parks—will soon open a long-awaited structure: a new 75’ by 110’ shadehouse! Learn why this building is so important—and submit your ideas for what we should name it.
Franciscan Manzanita
Park E-Ventures Article

Why Don't We Just Buy Plants to Restore the Parks?

Some have asked: Why don’t we just buy plants from our local nurseries to restore the park? In short, the Parks Conservancy grows native plants from seed because such a practice increases the chances of the plants’ survival.
seeds
Park E-Ventures Article

How a Seed Gets on the Move

As you are out enjoying the parks this summer, be sure to take a closer look and appreciate the many ways that plants have adapted to ecological conditions to disperse their seeds.
European beachgrass
Park E-Ventures Article

The Importance of Knowing What "Invasive" Means

Invasive species cause an imbalance to native communities and upset the food web that has long been established.