Our Plants (List)

The oso berry is found in many habitats around California and beyond. The leaves are apple-green and lance shaped. In the winter, oso berry will begin to leaf out and produce a small panicle of bright white flowers. This is the easiest time to find an oso berry in the…

This evening primrose is one of a relatively small number of species that ranges from the interior deserts to coastal chaparral. It grows south of the transverse ranges into the Southwest and Baja. After going largely dormant in late summer, it emerges with cool, moist weather with a basal rosette…

The beavertail pricklypear is one of California’s most beautiful cactus species. The pads are blue green and speckled with tan patches of small hairs. (Note: these small hairs, known as glochids, are quite irritating to the skin). The spring flowers are large, usually lavender or pink in color. The large…

This variety of the plains pricklypear grows at higher elevations in southeastern California and the Southwest. It is named for its long flexible spines that give the cactus a hairy, grizzled appearance. The several varieties are tetraploid, i.e. they have four chromosomes instead of the usual two. This results in…

This manzanita relative grows naturally in a very limited area – just a small population in southern San Diego County, and a few others in northern Baja. It grows as an open shrub to about fifteen feet. The bark transitions from burnt red to gray, then to burnt red again…