Heyday Books, 2001 , ISBN-10:1890771287 , 11 x 81/4 in / 280 x 210 mm , paperback , 150 pages , B&W drawings, color plates, maps, bibliography , includes index

A little more than a hundred years ago, the San Francisco landscape was mostly sand dunes, meadows, marshes, and rocky outcroppings. Only a scattering of native trees, mostly windblown and stunted, grew naturally. Early city and park planners, bent on creating a magnificent city, transformed this sparse, fog-swept landscape by planting trees from around the world - trees selected especially for their beauty and adaptability to the city’s climate.
      The Trees of Golden Gate Park is based on the writings of botanist Elizabeth McClintock, whose column on the trees of Golden Gate Park was a feature of Pacific Horticulture magazine for twenty-five years; it presents the reader with the stories of 170 different trees found in the park and throughout the city. Detailed maps and elegant line drawings of leaves, flowers, and fruit make it a useful field guide; extensive descriptions of the biology, lineage, and horticultural history of the trees make it essential armchair reading for everyone who wishes to deepen their knowledge of San Francisco and the unique urban treasure known as Golden Gate Park.

      "There is a tremendous variety of trees from many parts of the world at Strybing Arboretum & Botanical Gardens and many have interesting pines, such as the dacrydium that was brought to the park after its debut at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915. Other trees include magnolias, cedars, tree dahlias, dove tree, gingkos, and the coast, giant, and dawn redwoods.
      "Turner recently edited the new guidebook Trees of Golden Gate park, written by dr. Elizabeth McClintock whom Strybing Arboretum & Botanical Gardens considered 'one of California's foremost botanists and a mentor to those working in the fields of taxonomy, biological research and public education'.
      "McClintock based her book Trees of Golden Gate Park on 25 years of columns in Pacific Horticulture magazine. The book, sprinkled with a collection of quotes, gives historical, botanical and anecdotal accounts of 170 Golden Gate Park trees, with maps to locate them.
      "McClintock concentrated her career on the botany of plants used in California. This past June she received the Veitch Gold Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society in Britain, its highest award to a non-British citizen, in honor of her work. Profits from the book will go to the Elizabeth McClintock Fund for trees, supporting the ongoing management of trees in Golden Gate Park."

Dr. Elizabeth McClintock's (1912-2004) botanical career spanned more than fifty years. Specializing in the classification, naming, and geographical distribution of plants, she was considered an expert in the field. She specialized in the taxonomy of seed plants and the distribution of flower plants, especially California natives. Elizabeth worked as curator in the Botany Department of the California Academy of Sciences from 1949 until she retired in 1957. Among other achievements, she was responsible for the fine herbarium collection of ornamental plants. Later, she was a Research Associate in the Department of Botany at the University of California, Berkeley.