Whiteleaf Manzanita (Plants of the Foothill College California Native Plant Garden)

Whiteleaf Manzanita

Arctostaphylos manzanita

Family ³

Ericaceae

Description ⁴

Srub. On favorable sites it can become treelike, attaining heights in excess of 20 feet (6 m) and developing a single short trunk. On most sites, however, it ranges from 6 to 12 feet (2-4 m) tall. Mature limbs are long and crooked with smooth, dark reddish-brown bark, which peels irregularly in thin flakes. The young twigs are pale green with downy hairs. The white or pale pink flowers occur in drooping open clusters. The fruit is a small berrylike drupe, which persists on the shrub year-round. In early summer it is white, but in late summer it turns a deep red. The nutlets are irregularly coalesced or separate.

Community ³

Chaparral, Foothill Woodland, Northern Oak Woodland, Yellow Pine Forest

Flowering ³

Jan- Mar

Ethnobotany ³

Concow Drug (Dermatological Aid) Mendocino Indian Drug (Poison, Fruit) Pomo, Calpella Drug (Cold Remedy) Pomo, Little Lakes Drug (Analgesic. Antidiarrheal), Numlaki Food (Porridge)
Chestnut, V. K. 1902 Plants Used by the Indians of Mendocino County, California. Contributions from the U.S. National Herbarium 7:295-408. (p. 375)

Miwok Drug (Dietary Aid, Gastrointestinal Aid) Barrett, S. A. and E. W. Gifford 1933 Miwok Material Culture. Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee 2(4):11 (p. 161,162)
Karok Food (Beverage, Dried Food) Schenck, Sara M. and E. W. Gifford 1952 Karok Ethnobotany. Anthropological Records 13(6):377-392 (p. 388)

Garden Location ³

U, T

Associated species ³

native bees (pollen / nectar) XERCES
hummingbirds

Sources and Credits

(c) John Game, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/47945928@N02/7087849435
(c) gillian360, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/24634344

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