Arctostaphylos morroensis

Morro manzanita, Morro manzanita, Morro manzanita

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1 · Threatened

Morro manzanita is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native shrub found in southern Central Coast region near Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo County in stabilized sand dunes and chaparral at elevations below 200 meters. Flowering from January to March, this plant produces white to pink urn-shaped flowers in pendulous, bell-shaped clusters. Growing 1 to 4 meters tall with erect stems that have gray bark which shreds and branches covered in white non-glandular hairs, it forms a distinctive architectural shape. Its leaves are dark green and shiny, oblong-ovate, 1.5 to 3 centimeters long with a gray-tomentose undersurface and entire margins that are slightly cupped. The fruit is a depressed-spheric berry approximately 7 to 10 millimeters wide, with stones that can be variably fused or free.

Habitat: Stabilized sand dunes, sandstones, chaparral

Bloom period: Jan-Mar

Elevation: < 200 m

Bioregions: s CCo (s Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo Co.).

California counties: San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Santa Barbara

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