English Holly

English Holly (Llex aquifolium)

This evergreen tree has dark green glossy color leaves with spiny edges. Its size is medium with grayish color trunk. Its red color berries stand out beautifully from its dark green color. This great tree is located at Golden Gate Park on John F. Kennedy Drive across the street from where the Liquidambar tree on previous posts.

Bigleaf Maple

Bigleaf Maple (Acer macrophyllum)

Also referred as 'Broad Leaf Maple' or 'Oregon Maple', this maple has the largest leaves of the maples family. The tree is medium in size and has a light colored trunk. This Bigleaf Maple Tree is located at Golden Gate Park near the Japanese tea Garden.

Weeping Bottlebrush

Weeping Bottlebrush (Callistemon viminalis)

Common on the streets of San Francisco the Wheeping Bottlebrush has red flowers that are in the shape of a baby bottle brush, or maybe the baby bottle brush is in the shape of this flower. The flower has fine red color strands. It's brother, the Lemmon Bottlebrush looks exactly the same except for it's shape. The  Lemmon Bottlebrush is shaped like a mushroom and the Weeping Bottlebrush is taller and its branches are all over the place as you can see in the pictires. The tree in the picture is around the corner from Roxy Sandwich on Paulding St.

Life's journey.

Keeping in mind the "life's a journey not a destination" quote, one must hop on every bus on every bus stop we come across to our next destination. The last thing we want is to be in the same bus we started in when our time is up.

New Zealand Myoporum

New Zealand Myoporum (Myoporum laetum)

It's name comes from the Greek word 'poros' (pores) the leaves of the Myoporum has small pores that from which light can be seen through when a leaf is held against the sun or light. Myoporum trees can be a difficult tree to keep either on the streets or at the backyard due to the multidirectional growth of its branches and roots. Roots in particular are strong enough to mess up your pavement, reason why this tree is so densely seen on the west side of the Golden Gate Park where winds coming from the ocean are particularly devastating on trees without strong roots. These trees are also prone to disease, many trees out there can be seen with some of its leaves wrinkled. You can see in the first picture a cluster of wrinkled leaves. 

New Zealand Tea Tree

New Zealand tea Tree (Leptospermun scoparium)

Was baptized with the name (Leptospermun scoparium) by none other than Captain Cook himself. Captain cook was introduced to this tree rich in vitamin c on one of his voyages to New Zealand in the 1700's. It was said that people used its leaves to make tea. The tree photos are from a tree on Sloat Blvd. going north just past 19th Ave.

Animal pictures in Marin County Parks

Black-tail deer grassing on the lawn at Paradise Beach Park in Tiburon.

Brown Seagull at Paradise Beach Park. 

Arboreal Salamander (Aneides lugubris)

These two appeared as i lifted the tree root i was digging out at Paradise Beach Park in Tiburon. Pardon me gentlemen! 

You sir are the hippest squirrel i have ever seen in my life, might be a San Francisco thing. I bet dogs might even like you! Spotted this guy as i was taking pictures of a Liquidambar tree, check previous post, on John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park.

Herring Gull at McNears Park in San Rafael. The Herring Gull is identifiable by the pink legs and red spot on the lower mandible. 

Beautiful Western Scrub Jay i spotted at Paradise Beach Park in Tiburon. This guy did not shy away from me as i got as close as 10 feet from him.

Snowy Egret by the side of the road near Mike's Bikes at Mill Valley.

Ranger Jim Slack keeping us from killing the only thing left intact of this Fin Whale, it's dignity. The Fin Whale is the second largest whale in the world after the blue whale. It can grow up to 80 feet. This baby was 43 feet and it lost track of its mom and ended up in Upton Beach just north of Stinson Beach.

Scientists are messy people! Scientists are conducting a necropsy to try and figure out the reason why this whale got lost and or died.

Sushi anyone?

Three beautiful Canadian Geese during the fall season at Paradise Beach Park in Tiburon.

Passionfruit flower

Passionfruit flower

Lemmon Bottlebrush

Lemmon Bottlebrush (Callistemon Citrinus)

Common on the streets of San francisco the Lemmon Bottlebrush has red flowers that are in the shape of a baby bottle brush, or maybe the baby bottle brush is in the shape of this flower. The flower has fine red color strands. It's brother, the Weeping Bottlebrush looks exactly the same except for it's shape. The Lemmon Bottlebrush is shaped like a mushroom and the Weeping Bottlebrush is taller and slim. The tree in the picture is next to a mechanic shop where Ocean Ave. meets Mission St.

Strawberry Tree

Strawberry Tree ( Arbutus Unedo )

The Strawberry Tree is a native tree of Western Europe, the Mediterranean Basin to be more precise.
This tree has become very popular in San Francisco. You can find one on nearly every street from the Excelsior district to the Haight to the Mission. Distinctively recognizable by its reddish trunk, similar to that of a Manzanita tree, and clusters of pink flowers in the shape of jellyfish. Its fruit is a grape-size ball with changing colors from green to yellow to red when ready to eat. The fruit is a favorite of birds. The tree fills completely with fruit, so much, that a lot of the fruit falls to the ground making sidewalks into a mess as people step on them when passing through. The fruit is edible, however, its weird taste allows you to eat only one. The tree in the picture below i found on Stanyan next to the Kezar Stadium parking lot. The tree of the two pictures below is located at a small park on Clay and Drumm Streets next to the poplars home of the wild parrots.

Silver Dollar Gum

Silver Dollar Gum ( Eukalyptus Polyanthemos ) 

Native to Australia, this evergreen tree grows to a medium size and it has a gray-brown bark trunk. It's leaves are roundish in shape and are green-white almost bluish in color.
This tree stands at the corner of Elk and O'shaughnessy on Glen Canyon Park.

Western Yew

Western Yew ( Taxus Brevifolia )

From the conifer family and native to the Pacific Northwest of North America, this tree's reign stretches from central California to Alaska. This evergreen produces a cone that later turns into a bright red berry-like structure called aril. The aril has a single seed that birds eat and gets dispersed to a wide range of territory. This beautiful tree can be found at Golden Gate Park. The first one with the aril i found on Stanyan St. just past John F. Kennedy Drive on the bushes on the left hand side. Almost all those bushes above the stone wall are Western Yew. The tree on the picture below with the bench i found near the Japanese Tea Garden.

California Buckeye

California Buckeye (Aesculus Californica)

A San Francisco native, this tree can grow up to 20 feet provided  it is well protected from the wind in windy San Francisco. The tree has long elliptical dark green leaves and produces long clusters of white flowers in May and June. The Native Americans used it's poisonous seeds to stupefy fish, making them easy prey. A good specimen can be found at the south side of Golden Gate Park's Mallard Lake. The pictures below are from a big tree at the corner of Mcallister and Willard Sts.  Two blocks away from GGP.