Native Wildflowers of the Palos Verdes Peninsula

A hiker’s guide to the flowering native plants in  preserves and open spaces. A program by LA CNPS

Presenters: Ann Dalkey and Yvetta Williams

The presentation will begin with a short description of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy. Then the authors will talk about how they met and began their partnership in creating the guidebook of Native Wildflowers of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Their goal was to create a user-friendly guidebook so that people with no botanical knowledge can easily identify a plant while hiking on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Their presentation will show how the guidebook is organized and how one can use it, featuring pretty photos of flowers throughout. Afterwards, the authors will be happy to autograph books for people who want to purchase a copy ($20, proceeds go to the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy).

Though they are bound by shared passions for wildflowers, the coastal sage scrub habitat, and the natural inclination to photograph everything, Ann and Yvetta each brought different strengths to the effort. As a career marine biologist, Ann is well familiar with scientific names and the technical requirements for defining species characteristics. Yvetta, a life-long learner who grew up and still lives on the Palos Verdes
Peninsula, possesses a naturalist’s knowledge of the plant species, when they bloom, and where they are located, along with the Native Americans’ uses of the plants.