Arctostaphylos hookeri subsp. hookeri

Hooker's manzanita, Hooker's Manzanita, Hooker's manzanita

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Hooker's manzanita is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native shrub found in northern Central Coast and southern San Francisco Bay Area, specifically the southern Santa Cruz Mountains, in chaparral and closed-cone pine forest at elevations below 200 meters. Flowering from February to April, this plant produces white to pink urn-shaped flowers in clusters. Growing as a mounded or erect shrub 0.5 to 1.5 meters tall with distinctive smooth reddish bark, it forms compact clusters in its native habitat. Its leathery leaves are lanceolate to widely elliptic, 2 to 3 centimeters long and 1 to 1.5 centimeters wide, with short petioles 4 to 8 millimeters in length. Small round fruits 3 to 8 millimeters wide complete the plant's characteristic profile.

Habitat: Chaparral, closed-cone pine forest

Bloom period: Feb-Apr

Elevation: < 200 m

Bioregions: n CCo, s SnFrB (s Santa Cruz Mtns).

California counties: Monterey, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, San Luis Obispo

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