Dedicated to the preservation of California's native plants

The mission of the California Native Plant Society is to increase understanding and appreciation of California’s native plants and to conserve them and their natural habitats through education, science, advocacy, horticulture and land stewardship.

March Chapter Meeting

Thursday March 4, 2021 @ 7pm on Zoom

Northern California Black Walnut – A Tree with Many Stories

Please join us for our March presentation, with Heath Bartosh, co‐founder and Senior Botanist of Nomad Ecology, based in Martinez, California. Despite previous research and study – the original distribution, subsequent radiation, and genetic identity of the northern California black walnut (Juglans hindsii) remained a source of considerable perplexity and debate. This confusion was confounded by the perception that some northern California black walnut trees may be hybrids with other native or non-native Juglans species. To get a clearer understanding of the northern California black walnut’s historic and current distribution as well as the rate of hybridization throughout a larger portion of its range, researchers, including our speaker Heath Bartosh, inventoried specimens in a number of counties and performed genetic testing on the trees. With information from the study, an informed decision was made on the conservation status of this native tree, which was formerly recognized as rare. Heath will summarize what we know about northern California black walnut’s past, present, and future, focusing on work done by a collaborative group of people interested in this mysterious native tree.

In addition to being a consulting botanist, Heath is also a Research Associate at the University and Jepson Herbaria at UC Berkeley. After graduating from Humboldt State University, Heath began his career as a professional botanist in 2002 and has been an earnest student of the California flora for the past 15 years. In 2009, he also became a member of the Rare Plant Program Committee for CNPS. His role on this committee is to ensure the rare plant program continues to develop current and accurate information on the distribution, ecology, and conservation status of California’s rare and endangered plants, and help promote the use of this information to influence plant conservation in California.