Arctostaphylos columbiana

Columbia manzanita, Columbia Manzanita

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Columbia manzanita is a California native shrub found in northern coastal regions, western Klamath Ranges, and northern coastal Redwood forests in rocky coastal uplands and maritime chaparral at elevations below 800 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white to pink urn-shaped flowers in pendulous, branched clusters. Growing 1 to 5 meters tall with erect stems covered in white, woolly hairs, it develops a distinctive architectural form with stiff, spreading branches. Its leaves are dark green, lanceolate to ovate, 4 to 6 centimeters long with wedge-shaped bases and acute tips, presenting a leathery texture with sparse glandular hairs. The fruit is a depressed spherical berry 8 to 11 millimeters wide, with stones that may be variably fused or separate.

Habitat: Rocky coastal uplands, maritime chaparral, conifer forest

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 800 m

Bioregions: NCo, w KR, NCoRO

California counties: Humboldt, Mendocino, Los Angeles, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, Del Norte, San Mateo, Calaveras, Trinity, Marin, Napa, Lake

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