Arctostaphylos osoensis

Oso manzanita, Oso manzanita, Oso manzanita

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Oso manzanita is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native shrub found in the southern Central Coast, specifically in the western Los Osos Valley of San Luis Obispo County, growing on dacite volcanic outcrops in chaparral at elevations of 50 to 375 meters. Flowering from December to February, this plant produces white to pink flowers in pendulous racemes with distinctive leaf-like bracts. Growing erect to 1 to 4 meters tall with a gray, shredding bark and slender branches, it features densely overlapping leaves that are dark green, shiny, and deeply lobed at the base. Its leaves are ovate to round-ovate, 1.5 to 3 centimeters long, with an obtuse tip and entire margin, appearing smooth or sparsely hairy. The fruit is a depressed-spheric berry 5 to 8 millimeters wide, with stones that may be variably fused or free.

Habitat: Dacite (volcanic) outcrops, chaparral

Bloom period: Dec-Feb

Elevation: 50-375 m

Bioregions: s CCo (w Los Osos Valley, San Luis Obispo Co.).

California counties: 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.