Native Plants of Montara Mountain Information Page
The initial goal of these pages is to create an interactive guide to the hundred or so plants listed in Barbara VanderWerf's book "Montara Mountain." Some may not be here yet, but as the year's cycle continues, what's in bloom will be picked up and added. Plants not in the book will be added as they are discovered.
Check back if what you're looking for isn't here yet - better yet, drop me a note and let me know whatcher looking for and whatcha think.
Chuck Kozak - [email protected]
Using the site
Choose the type of list to look up a plant:
Family and Latin name (the most reliable if you know what it is),
Common Name (somewhat reliable - names can differ), or
Color and Type (not so reliable because of color variations).
Each entry in the list is a link to a section of a page with a plant definition.
The actual html pages are arranged by plant families (see below), and browsers are encouraged to scroll through the other entries for the other family members to see how they're all related (or seem not to be!)
Linked references to another plant within a plant description will usually open up a new browser window so that the two may be easily compared or considered together.
In general, the bottom of pages hold various navigation tools to get you back to the lists, back home or to related pages.
Organization
This pages of this site are organized by plant family, because it was the most reference-able way to do it and to keep track of everything. Some families have only 1 or 2 members, some (like Asteraceae, the Sunflower family) have over 20.
To keep loading times to a minimum, I limited each page to three plants. This means that some families have multiple pages (Asteraceae has 7).
There are three different list lookup structures:
By Family and Latin name (Family headers with the plants alphabetized by Genus and species),
by Common name alphabetized, and
by Color and Type (Color of flower, color of fruit, and other type, such as trees, ferns, etc.)
Each entry in the list has the the common and scientific names, the family name, a thumbnail image, and links to the appropriate section of the family pages.
The lists are broken up into segments to minimize loading time.
For speed purposes, versions of the Family Name list and Common name lists are available without the thumbnails. These are also handy to print out for checklists.
References used for these pages:
Toni Corelli's
Botany Page and List
of Montara Mountain Plants
The definitive , ever-growing list of plants found on Montara Mountain,
and the main reference for scientific naming and family classification on
these pages.
Plant Check List
for Hazelnut trail
Plant check List
for Gray Whale Cove Trail
Medicinal Plants
of the Pacific West
Michael Moore
Red Crane Books - ISBN: 1-878610-31-7
Montara Mountain
Barbara VanderWerf
Gum Tree Lane Books
- ISBN: 0-9632922-2-6
Peterson Field Guide to Pacific States Wildflowers
Theodore F. Niehaus and Charles L. Ripper
Houghton Mifflin Company - ISBN: 0-395-31662-6
Plants of the San Francisco Bay Region - Mendocino to Monterey
Eugene N. Kozloff and Linda Beidleman
Sagen Press - ISBN: 0-9643756-0-5
The
Rare and Endangered Plants of San Mateo and Santa Clara County
Toni Corelli and Zoe Chandik
Monocot Press - ISBN: 0-9646994-0-0
Credits & Inspiration
Special thanks go to Barbara and Bill VanderWerf for countless hours out on the trails, going through the guides, offering their knowledge and photographs, and peering at the slides trying to figure out "what is that and where was it?"
And many thanks to Joe Barnwell, Toni Corelli, Carl May, Jake Sigg and Mike Vasey for imparting their expertise and enthusiasm about the natural wonders of Montara Mountain.
Thanks to Video Arts in San Francisco for help in the scanning.
Special thanks to Scott Boyd for hosting and providing the web site space on www.montara.com.
- other useful and interesting links -
Bay Area Action
The place to go for things green on the SF Peninsula. One of the leading
environmental organizations in the area, and a sponsor of the Montara
Mountain Habitat Restoration
Brousseau California
Flora Pictures
A part of the Berkeley Digital Library Project, this searchable, browse-able,
massive site has almost everything you'd want to know about almost any plant
you could think of (and pictures to boot!)
CERES Natural
Environment Coastal Resources Listing
A collection of links to Coastal Resource organizations and sites
California
Native Plant Society (Main Page)
CNPS Yerba Buena
Chapter (San Francisco and northern San Mateo County)
CNPS Santa Clara
Valley Chapter (central and southern SF Peninsula and South Bay
area)
Toni
Corelli's Botany Page
Plant lists for Montara Mountain, Edgewood Park, info on her books and links
to affilliated organizations
Endangered,
Threatened, and Rare Plants of California
The State's official list, 1995 edition.
Go Native Nursery
The only native plant nursery on the coast, specializing in coastal natives,
environmental planning & restoration work.
Las Pilitas Nursery Web Site
A chatty, extremely informative and often hilarious site with everything
you could want to know about planning, buying, planting, and maintaining
a California Native Plant Garden.
Montara Home Page
Our host site: Links to coastal natural resources and all things MidCoast:
Environment, government, politics, history, businesses, etc.
National Biological Information
Infrastructure
"... an electronic gateway to biological data and information maintained
by federal, state, and local government agencies; private sector organizations;
and other partners around the nation and the world."
Native Habitats
A site listing extensive activities and resources for the SF peninsula.
stae-wide and nationally for native habitat protection and restoration.
A great resource!
Native Plants
Email Discussion List
An active and information email forum for issues regarding native plants,
habitats, gardening, restoration, etc. Membership includes many professionals
and researchers in the field. A valuable resource for refernce and real-worlld
experience with native plants.
Natural Perspective
A delightful and informative nature site with exquisite photography: "
...dedicated to the beauty and science of nature and to the joys nature
brings to those who explore it. The joy of seeing "familiar faces"
everywhere; the invigoration a nature walk brings to both body and soul;
the beauty and diversity of our Earthly co-habitants; and the pleasure of
eating something found along the way."
Pacifica's Natural World
Beautifully designed pages highlighting wildlife and natural resources of
the California Coast.
portola
A beautiful resource from CardiffGiant for trails throughtout the
SF Peninsula - includes sections for McNee Ranch State Park and San Pedro
Valley County Park, as well as monthly tips, illustrations, special dog
section, and more.
Santa
Cruz Mountains Bioregional Council
Good resource site for information and activities on the Santa Cruz mountains.
The council works to promote a holistic view of the Santa Cruz Mountains
(including Montara Mounatin), provide ongoing forums, be an info clearinghouse
and project facilitator, inventory and monitor biological resources, encourage
habitat enhancement and resource restoration, and educate about the Santa
Cruz Mountain bioregion.
Yerba Buena Nursery
The Bay Area's main Native Plant source and California's oldest Native Plant
Nursery.