Arctostaphylos ohloneana

Ohlone manzanita, Ohlone manzanita, Ohlone manzanita

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.1

Ohlone manzanita is a rare (CNPS 1B.1) California native shrub found in southwestern San Francisco Bay Area, specifically in northern Ben Lomond Mountain and northwestern Santa Cruz County, growing on siliceous shale outcrops in chaparral and knobcone-pine woodland at elevations of 400 to 500 meters. Flowering from February to March, this plant produces light-colored blossoms in pendulous panicle clusters with delicate branching. Growing erect to one to two meters tall, it develops distinctive twigs with sparse short and occasionally long glandular hairs. Its leaves are elliptic to ovate-elliptic, measuring 1.5 to 3 centimeters long, with a wedge-shaped base, acute tip, and entire margins, initially light green and puberulent before becoming glabrous with age. The fruit is a depressed-spheric structure 5 to 8 millimeters wide, with stones that may be variably fused or free.

Habitat: Siliceous shale outcrops, chaparral, knobcone-pine woodland

Bloom period: Feb-Mar

Elevation: 400-500 m

Bioregions: sw SnFrB (n Ben Lomond Mtn, nw Santa Cruz Co.).

California counties: Santa Cruz

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