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This is what I think of tarweed
To the Editor:
With ruthless efficiency, the city's landscape crew recently eliminated the plant Madia sativa thriving in the median strip in front of our home.
Commonly known as “coast tarweed.” Madia sativa is no weed. As you must know, it's one of our indigenous specimens and host to a variety of native insects. In ancient summers, long before the city of Berkeley existed, Madia sativa covered this area.
Though it's certainly not a rare plant, I don't know where there's another patch on nearby public land. This year's crop was particularly abundant. I'm sorry to see it go. It might have flowered for another month or so, had it not been prematurely weed-whacked.
We've lived at our current address for the past 14 years. In our view, this little patch of tarweed – this connection with pre-historic Berkeley – is one thing that makes our block special. We particularly enjoy introducing the plant to neighbors, many of whom know little about local ecology.
Jim Sharp
Berkeley
