Arctostaphylos canescens subsp. sonomensis

Sonoma canescent manzanita, Sonoma Canescent Manzanita

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Sonoma canescent manzanita is a California native shrub found in western Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, and western San Francisco Bay Area from Mount Tamalpais to Santa Cruz Mountains in chaparral and open forests at elevations of 60 to 1,700 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white to pink urn-shaped flowers in compact clusters that emerge from glandular-hairy branches. Growing as a multi-stemmed shrub 1 to 3 meters tall with distinctively smooth, reddish-brown bark that peels with age, it develops a complex branching structure. Its leaves are oval to rounded, leathery and gray-green, typically 2 to 5 centimeters long with a dense, soft canescent surface that gives the plant its distinctive appearance. The fruit develops as a nearly glabrous, rounded drupe that matures from green to brown as the season progresses.

Habitat: Chaparral, open forests

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 60-1700 m

Bioregions: w KR, NCoRO, w SnFrB (Mount Tamalpais s Santa Cruz Mtns).

California counties: Colusa, Sonoma, Mendocino, Lake, Humboldt, Tehama, Glenn, Trinity, Contra Costa, Napa

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.