the rare Franciscan Manzanita Doyle Drive clone at the San Francisco Botanical Garden is starting to bloom and the first buds and flowers are appearing now. The Franciscan Manzanita recieved federal protection last year and has been cloned in a few places including the San Francisco Botanical gardens. This is the plant that was found in the middle of Doyle drive during construction and was thought to be extinct
The mother plant that was transplanted from Doyle Drive to a secret location in the Presidio is still doing well, but is off limits to the public. You can see some photos of the mother plant here. A series of clones was cut and transplanted at the native plant garden at the SF Botanical Gardens and nearly all are doing well and those are all publicly accessible. below are photos of the first flowers this year from those clones and a youtube video posted by the Presidio Trust of the story of the Franciscan Manzanita
March 7, 2013, Golden Gate Park botanical gardens. Manzanita is Spanish for ‘little apples’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manzanita
