by Interpreter Christine Cardosi

As part of my California Naturalist course 5 years ago, our instructor Leticia Gallardo had a unique February assignment for us: write a Valentine to nature.  Choose some animal, plant, or fungi found in California and profess our love to them in a poem.  So, this February, I share with you my poem to the California bay tree (Umbellularia californica). 

 

California bay, my dear valentine, 

standing next to the redwood, the oak, the pine. 

Throughout most of California are the places you call home, 

favoring the coastal forests, the Sierra, and riparian zones. 

Leaves green like jade, thriving in moisture and shade. 

 

Love you in sickness and in health, dear bay. 

And that is a promise that goes both ways. 

From your leaves Native Americans make 

protection from insects or a cure to a headache. 

And if fungus sickens you when you’re old, scarred, or fraught, 

I’ll work to protect your heart from fungal heart rot. 

 

And I am not the only one who holds you dear, bay trees. 

In your safe branches, the songbirds make their nests. 

Amongst your groves, deer find cover and rest. 

Dusky-footed woodrats bring your leaves 

into their homes to protect from fleas. 

The black-tailed deer nibble on your new shoots 

and the squirrels and Steller’s jays gorge on your fruits. 

 

Whether you grow tall towards the sky 

Or stay low like a shrub, 

I can always seek you out, my love. 

The smell of your leaves— 

pungent, herbaceous, peppery 

—will forever bring you back to me.