Join us for our favorite get-together of the year: the annual potluck dinner and elect ion meeting, followed by a talk by Michael Vasey, which will be our annual Br enda Butner Memorial Lecture. The evening is devoted to native plant appreciation, C hapter business, and delectable victuals. It’s the party of the year – don’ t miss it!
As the centerpiece of his talk, Michael will introduce a new book, A Field Guide to Manzanitas (Back Country Press), of which he is a co-author. Using beautiful and informative images by free-lance photographer Jeff Bisbee, figures, range maps, and profiles of each of 104 taxa, this book is intended for anyone with an interest in this fascinating genus. Mike will provide the backstory behind the creation of this book and share his deep k nowledge of how and why Arctostaphylos has become such a quintessential “rock star” of the California flora.
Dr. Michael Vasey is a botanist and coasta
l ecologist with a long-term passion for manzanitas (Arctostaphylos<
span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: TimesNewRoman;">). His dissertati
on focused on the influence of summer marine fog on maritime chaparral wher
e most local manzanita endemics are situated. He, Tom Parker, and Jon Keele
y have done recent treatments of Arctostaphylos for the Flora of North America and
The evening begins at 6pm with our annual potluck. Bring your favorite dish, whether it be a salad, main dish, dessert, or beverage; it always wo rks out that we have just the right amount of everything!