Arctostaphylos glauca

Big berry manzanita

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Big berry manzanita is a California native shrub found in the Tehama, San Francisco Bay, southern Coastal Ranges, southern California, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and southwestern Desert Mountains in rocky slopes, chaparral, and woodland at elevations below 2,200 meters. Flowering from December to March, this plant produces pale pink to white urn-shaped flowers in pendulous, branched clusters. Growing 1 to 8 meters tall with an erect form, it develops distinctive smooth, reddish-brown bark that peels with age. Its leaves are thick and leathery, 2.5 to 5 centimeters long, oblong-ovate with a white-glaucous surface, rounded base, and entire margins. The fruit is a sticky, spherical berry 10 to 15 millimeters wide with markedly fused stones.

Habitat: Rocky slopes, chaparral, woodland

Bloom period: Dec-Mar

Elevation: < 2200 m

Bioregions: Teh, SnFrB, SCoR, SCo, TR, PR, sw DMtns (Little San Bernardino Mtns)

California counties: Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, Kern, Contra Costa, Riverside, Monterey, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Imperial, Alameda, Tulare, Orange, Amador, Fresno, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, San Francisco, Tehama

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