Plant Portraits:

The California Legacy of A.R. Valentien

Tree Anenome: Carpenteria californica

The Tree Anemone, with its showy clusters of large white flowers is a threatened species of California. It is known from only seven occurrences in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and these are in areas threatened by development, logging, and grazing. It is in the same family as the better-known Mock Orange, and is also used as a landscaping plant, but unlike its relative, it keeps its dark glossy leaves year-round.