Visiting the Botanical Gardens at Berkeley

The poppy known as the fried egg flower at the botanical garden

Yesterday the temperatures in San Francisco were unusually hot and today was even hotter at 37 degrees Celsius! But we braved the heat and headed to the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley.

A poppy whose petals look like they are fiery red flames

Even though we were armed with large brim hats, we still had to try to find as many shady areas as possible to keep cool. As a result, we did a relatively quick tour of the place; if it wasn't so hot we'd probably be there for two hours. We ended up hanging around there for an hour and 40 minutes.

The garden features plants from around the world, and are grouped according to their origin: Asia, Australasia, California, Eastern North America, Mediterranean, Mexico/Central America, Deserts of the Americas, Southern Africa and South America.

We just wandered down the paths to explore the area though admittedly our direction was determined by where we found shady routes. Along the way we saw so many different kinds of flowers, succulents and cacti.

According to TCM, this plant is good for many ailments!

One of the first flowers we saw was a white poppy called fried egg flower because it has five large white petals and a yellow centre. Its actual name is the matilija poppy. Love the name. We also came across an unusual looking red poppy with petals that looked like flames, particularly in the heat!

At one point we came across the Chinese medicinal herb garden, where some plants that are used in traditional Chinese medicine or TCM are grown, or at least attempted to -- some herbs were wilting under the heat.

A plant we saw was called Chinese leek seeds or jiu(3) cai(4) zi(3), or allium tuberosum. It is apparently good for back and knee pain, incontinence and frequent urination... hmmm maybe I picked a bad example. We also observed that many of the herbs were good for treating impotence!

An aloe plant from South Africa that grows in a spiral

This being California, we saw lots of aloe plants, one of which grew in a spiral pattern that I had never seen before, and some cacti that were very tall! The taller the cacti the greater its ability to store water -- it is able to store as much as 90 percent of the plant's weight.

For example, a cactus about 7 metres tall and weighing 6 tons can capture and store as much as a metric ton of rainwater in one day. This can cause the ribbed stems to expand 30cm!

Meanwhile, on a hot day, the same 7-metre tall cactus can lose 0.24 litres or one cup of water. Interesting factoids!

A cactus called African milk barrel from South Africa

Across the street from the botanical garden is the California Mather Redwood Grove and Amphitheater. We got the special door code to go in and actually the area isn't that big but still nice to walk in a mini forest filled with redwood trees, also known as sequoia sempervirens.

These trees are the world's tallest ones, with some reaching 106 metres with a diameter of 7 metres, and can live over 2,000 years.

They grow best in the California and Oregon coasts where winter rains and condensation from summer fog provide the moisture they need.

Another interesting fact is that it takes two weeks for water to travel from the roots of a redwood tree two weeks to the tree top. The needles in the tree can also absorb water, and when there are fires, the redwood tree's bark can be as thick as 30cm to protect itself. Really fascinating!

Looking up at the super tall redwood trees

University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley
200 Centennial Drive
Berkeley, CA
94720-5045
(510) 643 2755
botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu