Arctostaphylos otayensis

Otay manzanita, Otay manzanita, Otay manzanita

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Otay manzanita is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native shrub found in southwestern Puerto Real bioregion on volcanic rock outcrops, chaparral, and woodland at elevations of 280 to 1,700 meters. Flowering from January to March, this plant produces pale pink to white urn-shaped flowers in pendulous panicle clusters. Growing as an erect shrub 1 to 3 meters tall with distinctively glandular-hairy twigs, it develops a complex branching structure. Its leaves are narrowly elliptic to ovate, 2 to 3 centimeters long, gray-glaucous with an appressed-tomentose surface and entire margins that become nearly glabrous with age. The fruit is a spherical berry 6 to 8 millimeters wide, sparsely hairy and containing distinctive free or fused stones.

Habitat: Volcanic rock outcrops, chaparral, woodland

Bloom period: Jan-Mar

Elevation: 280-1700 m

Bioregions: sw PR.

California counties: San Diego, Orange, Alameda

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