Arctostaphylos pechoensis

Pecho manzanita, Pecho manzanita, Pecho manzanita

Family: Ericaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 1B.2

Pecho manzanita is a rare (CNPS 1B.2) California native shrub found in southern Central Coast bioregion from Morro Bay to Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County, occurring on shale outcrops, in chaparral and conifer forest at elevations below 500 meters. Flowering from January to March, this plant produces white to pink flowers in pendulous panicle clusters with distinctive leaf-like bracts. Growing erectly to 1 to 5 meters tall with white-hairy twigs and a branching structure, it develops a complex architectural form with multiple stems. Its leaves are oblong-ovate, 2 to 5 centimeters long, green to glaucous in color, with a clasping base and entire margins that become glabrous with age. The fruit is a depressed-spheric structure 8 to 12 millimeters wide, with stones typically fused together.

Habitat: Shale outcrops, chaparral, conifer forest

Bloom period: Jan-Mar

Elevation: < 500 m

Bioregions: s CCo (Morro Bay to Avila Beach, San Luis Obispo Co.).

California counties: San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, San Francisco

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