California Botanical Society

Will you be at Botany 2026? Andy will be taking photos / recording social media content for the California Botanical Society at Botany 2026. If you are presenting a poster or talk about Cali or Western American Botany at the conference, make sure to sign up using the QR Code or the link below!

https://forms.gle/96AubUKWtCzFcP1a9

Enjoy more California Botanical Society content! We have different social media platforms across the internet for everyone to interact with!

If you are looking for a large community, our Facebook has over 4,000 followers, is our most active community! (Shout-out the facebook family)

Our Instagram community is developing and flourishing new community, that we are building! Join the community, and special stuff will be happening soon on there as well!

Do you enjoy short content, and quick notifications? Bluesky has all our content kept short and sweet for the viewing experience.

Lastly, but not least. Our LinkedIn Page is actively growing and connecting us with professors, students, and more. Connect with us, and different people within the botanical sphere!

Worldwide, there are 39 collections registered in the Consortium of Lichen Herbaria, of which only 11 are from the United States, primarily from Alaska, Washington, and Oregon. In the Consortium, it lists only 1 collection of the host species, Sticta limbata, from the Santa Rosa Islands. Sticta limbata is typically associated with warm, open forests with moderate to high humidity.

In this Noteworthy Collections of Madrono, Rikke Næborg and Cameron Williams found Abrothallus welwitschii and its host Sticta limbata within a diverse and abundant non-vascular epiphyte community in groves of Quercus tomentella (look at the first slide)! Importantly, several of these groves are actively undergoing restoration of the groundcover and understory communities that have been lost to overgrazing and subsequent erosion. If restoration efforts are successful, this will likely enhance and preserve the habitat for these and many other epiphyte species!

1st Slide/Pic
Grove of Quercus tomentella on Santa Rosa Island in Channel Islands National Park. These trees are routinely bathed in fog, and, as a result, harbor rich epiphyte communities of lichens and bryophytes. Photo: NPS/Cameron B. Williams.

2nd Slide/Pic
Sticta limbata growing among bryophytes on Quercus tomentella on Santa Rosa Island in Channel Islands National Park. Note the marginal soredia and the true cyphellae on the lower surface of the thallus. Photo: NPS/© Michael Ready.

If interested in learning more:
https://doi.org/10.3120/0024-9637-260009

From Friends of the Ahart Herbarium --

the Next Presentation in "All Things Botanically Related"

Every third Thursday.

www.friendsoftheahartherbarium.org/presentation-series

EXPLORING THE BERRYESSA SNOW MOUNTAIN NATIONAL MONUMENT REGION

by Marc Hoshovsky, Naturalist and Author

Thursday, June 18, 2026 -- via Zoom.

7:00pm--8:00pm

Free!

The talk is based on the new book "Exploring the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument Region" by Marc Hoshovsky, Peter Schiffman, Bob Schneider, and Tim Messick (Backcountry Press, 2026)

"Discover one of California's most extraordinary yet under-recognized landscapes, located less than 2 hours drive west and south of Chico -- the Berryessa Snow Mountain region. Our speaker, Marc Hoshovsky, will help us better understand this region, why the region is so fascinating, and why it is now designated as the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument."

"This region has world renowned geology, extraordinary biodiversity, and rich cultural history, revealing a story unlike any other in California. Geologically, it is a wild expanse of ancient subduction zones, uplifted ocean crust, and volcanic seamounts that have attracted geologists from all over the world. It is a biological hotspot with many different habitats, including large areas of serpentinite rich in rare species, and it provides important habitat connectivity. This land is the traditional home to many Native peoples and has a rich history of 19th-century mining and mineral spring resorts. Marc will also tell us about different ways we can all get out and explore this region."

For more details about this talk and the link to connect, please follow the links at:

www.friendsoftheahartherbarium.org/presentation-series





For more information about Friends of the Ahart Herbarium

(formerly the Chico State Herbarium):

www.friendsoftheahartherbarium.org/



"The Friends of the Ahart Herbarium is an all-volunteer organization that promotes botanical education and outreach. Our mission is to provide support for the herbarium and demonstrate and publicize the value of the herbarium to the community."



Most of the funds raised through Friends of the Ahart Herbarium workshops and other fund-raising efforts currently go towards staffing of the Ahart Herbarium at California State University, Chico.





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The Fine Print:
Northern California Botanists (NCB) (www.norcalbotanists.org).



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All Things Botanically Related Presentation Series — Friends of the Ahart Herbarium Discover one of California's most extraordinary yet under-recognized landscapes, located less than 2 hours drive west and south of Chico – the Berryessa Snow Mountain region. Our speaker, Marc Hoshovsky, will help us better understand this region, why the region is so fascinating, and why it is no...

We had a wonder talk by Sarah Jacobs yesterday!! The recording has been uploaded to our Youtube channel, for all to review!

Use the link below:
https://youtu.be/o08TKd7Lg44?si=9XYKEHhGCf8Ea7ZX

It’s time for our next upcoming Botany Speaker!!!! This Thursday, June 11th, from 7 to 8 pm PT, Sarah Jacobs, the Assistant Curator and Howell Chair of Western North American Botany at the California Academy of Sciences, will be talking to us about the notoriously difficult taxonomy of Castilleja.

Talk Name:
“If it were easy, it wouldn’t be Castilleja: (in)congruent signals of species boundaries in two species complexes.”

Taxonomy in Castilleja is notoriously difficult, and for good reason, since data-driven approaches to delimiting species have yielded at least as many questions as insights. This talk will highlight some insights and name remaining challenges to summarize a suggested approach towards species delimitation in the paintbrushes that acknowledges our emerging understanding of both the complex evolution this genus has experienced and the limitations of any one line of evidence to determine species boundaries

A new addition to our current Madroño Issue covers the potential usage of Tissue Culture for rare plant conservation!

Traditionally, we have used ex situ conservation strategies, such as seed banks and botanical gardens, to maintain living collections and store germplasm (seeds, tissues, or DNA). These traditional methods aren’t always the best for some of the rare taxa in the California Islands.

What is Plant tissue culture, and how will it potentially be useful for conservation? Plant tissue culture is the application of advanced horticultural techniques in a sterile, in vitro environment to propagate new plants. The integration of in vitro culture into conservation strategies enhances an organization’s capacity to prevent extinction.

If you are interested in learning more, use the link below:
https://doi.org/10.3120/0024-9637-260015

It’s time for our next upcoming Botany Speaker!!!! Next Thursday, June 11th, from 7 to 8 pm PT, Sarah Jacobs, the Assistant Curator and Howell Chair of Western North American Botany at the California Academy of Sciences, will be talking to us about the notoriously difficult taxonomy of Castilleja.

Talk Name:
“If it were easy, it wouldn’t be Castilleja: (in)congruent signals of species boundaries in two species complexes.”

Taxonomy in Castilleja is notoriously difficult, and for good reason, since data-driven approaches to delimiting species have yielded at least as many questions as insights. This talk will highlight some insights and name remaining challenges to summarize a suggested approach towards species delimitation in the paintbrushes that acknowledges our emerging understanding of both the complex evolution this genus has experienced and the limitations of any one line of evidence to determine species boundaries

Learn more about our Sarah Jacobs:
Sarah Jacobs has a BS in Biology from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and an MS in Botany from Washington State University in Pullman. After a few years as a field botanist with the Forest Service in central Oregon, Sarah returned to academia to pursue a PhD at the University of Idaho in Moscow, where she worked with Dave Tank and began her research on the plant genus Castilleja (also known as “the paintbrushes”). During her postdoc with Felipe Zapata at UCLA, Sarah further developed her approach to species delimitation in the context of recent and rapid radiations. She is now an Assistant Curator in the Botany Department at the California Academy of Sciences where she runs a research lab studying the systematics of Castilleja and the early stages of speciation. She also helps direct and steward the large collection of specimens housed in the CAS herbarium, as well as contributing to the scientific endeavors of the Academy as a whole

If you are interested in listening to the talk, please use the link below:
https://calbotsoc.org/home/botany-outreach/botany-speaker-series/

The talk will be recorded and published on our YouTube channel for everyone to see if you aren’t able to make the talk!

Bryophytes have a reputation for preferring and thriving in wet places, but this may be a generalization that many general botanists easily misunderstand! In a study by Lena Ayala Coleman et al., the authors surveyed the Bryophytes from the foothills to the alpine zone on the western slope of California’s Sierra Nevada.

Using plots of 25 m^2, and that were above 380-2578 m above sea level. They recorded Bryophyte richness and abundance, along with microsite wetness, shadiness, incline, and substrate type for 253 plots!

It was found that generally, Bryophytes do best at low elevations, but that the effect of elevation is most pronounced for taxa that do best in dry microsites.

Figure Caption:
Alpha species richness in 25 m2 plots (S). More species were found in plots of lower elevation, even after adjusting for the occupancy of microhabitats regarding wetness, incline, and shadiness. The upper graph is the relationship of residuals after a multiple regression that included the three microhabitat occupancy scores. The lower graph is cumulative curves for S and plots.

If interested in learning more, use the link below:
https://doi.org/10.3120/0024-9637-250015

Meet Annalise E. Burrows, a 4th year Biological Science major at Cal Poly SLO! Annalise will be moving onto a Master's Program at San Francisco State University as a member of the Jacobs Lab!