Arctostaphylos obispoensis
Bishop manzanita, Bishop manzanita, Bishop manzanita
Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native
Conservation status: CNPS 4.3
Bishop manzanita is a California native shrub ranked 4.3 by CNPS, found in the central Santa Lucia Range in rocky, generally serpentine soils of coastal chaparral and closed-cone forest at elevations of 60 to 950 meters. Flowering from February to March, this plant produces white to pink urn-shaped flowers in pendulous, bell-shaped clusters. Growing as an erect shrub 1 to 4 meters tall with sparsely hairy twigs, it features distinctively glaucous-gray, oblong to lance-ovate leaves 2 to 4.5 centimeters long with rounded or truncate bases. Its leaves are dull gray-green, appressed-canescent when young, becoming glabrous with age, and have entire, flat margins with acute tips. The fruit is a depressed-spheric, glabrous structure 9 to 14 millimeters wide, with stones that may be variably fused or free.
Habitat: Rocky, generally serpentine soils, chaparral, open closed-cone forest near coast
Bloom period: Feb-Mar
Elevation: 60-950 m
Bioregions: SCoRO (c&s Santa Lucia Range).
California counties: San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Contra Costa
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.