Arctostaphylos nortensis

Del norte manzanita, Del Norte manzanita, Del Norte manzanita

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.3

Del norte manzanita is a California native shrub ranked 4.3 by CNPS, found in the northwestern Klamath Ranges in northern Del Norte County, growing on rocky slopes and in chaparral and conifer forest at elevations of 500 to 940 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces white flowers in pendant racemes with distinctive bristly branches. Growing 2 to 5 meters tall with erect stems covered in long, stiff bristles, it develops a distinctive branching structure. Its leaves are narrowly elliptic-ovate, 2 to 4 centimeters long, glaucous and gray when young, turning dark green with age, with a truncate to rounded base and entire flat margins. The fruit is a depressed-spheric structure 6 to 8 millimeters wide, with stones that may be variably fused or free.

Habitat: Rocky slopes, occasionally serpentine, chaparral, conifer forest

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: 500-940 m

Bioregions: nw KR (n Del Norte Co.).

California counties: Del Norte

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