Arctostaphylos

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Arctostaphylos

The genus Arctostaphylos, the manzanitas and bearberries, are shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
s or small tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s characterised by smooth, orange or red bark and stiff, twisting branches.

There are about 60 species of manzanita, ranging from ground-hugging coastal and mountain species to small trees up to 6 m tall.

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The genus Arctostaphylos, the manzanitas and bearberries, are shrub

Shrub

TREE

There are about 60 species of manzanita, ranging from ground-hugging coastal and mountain species to small trees up to 6 m tall. Most are evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
(one species deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
), with small oval leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
1-7 cm long, arranged spirally on the stems. The flowers are bell-shaped, white or pale pink, and borne in small clusters of 2-20 together; flowering is in the spring. The fruit

Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
are small berries, ripening in the summer or autumn. The berries of some species are edible.

Arctostaphylos species are used as food plants by the larva

Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
species including Coleophora arctostaphyli
Coleophora

Coleophora is a very large genus of moths of the family Coleophoridae with around 1000 described species. The genus is represented on all continents but the majority are found in the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions....
(which feeds exclusively on A. uva-ursi) and Coleophora glaucella
Coleophora

Coleophora is a very large genus of moths of the family Coleophoridae with around 1000 described species. The genus is represented on all continents but the majority are found in the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions....
.

The name means "bear grapes", derived from Greek arkto (bear) and staphyle (grape).

According to Philip V. Wells in The Jepson Manual and other sources, there are two subgenera

Subgenus

In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. See rank and rank .In ICZN, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a binomen, in parentheses, placed between the name of a biological genus and specific name: e.g....
of Arctostaphylos:

Subgenus Micrococcus

Sect. Micrococcus

Arctostaphylos mendocinoensis
Arctostaphylos mendocinoensis

Arctostaphylos mendocinoensis is a species of Arctostaphylos known by the common name pygmy manzanita. It is Endemism to Mendocino County, California, where it is known from only one occurrence in the pygmy forests along the coastline....
Pygmy Manzanita
Arctostaphylos myrtifolia
Arctostaphylos myrtifolia

Arctostaphylos myrtifolia is a species of Arctostaphylos known by the common name Ione manzanita. It is Endemism to the Sierra Nevada of California....
Ione Manzanita
Arctostaphylos nissenana
Arctostaphylos nissenana

Arctostaphylos nissenana is a species of Arctostaphylos known by the common name Nissenan manzanita. It is Endemism to California, where it grows in the woodlands and chaparral of the Sierra Nevada , mostly in El Dorado County, California....
Nissenan Manzanita
Arctostaphylos nummularia
Arctostaphylos nummularia

Arctostaphylos nummularia is a species of Arctostaphylos known by the common name glossyleaf manzanita. It is Endemism to California, where it grows in the forests of the coastal and inland ranges north of the San Francisco Bay....
Glossyleaf Manzanita

* Subgenus Arctostaphylos, which has 3 sections:

- Sect. Arctostaphylos
- Sect. Foliobracteata
- Sect. Pictobracteata

Distribution

Manzanita

Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus Arctostaphylos. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees present in the chaparral biome of western North America, where they occur from southern British Columbia in Canada, Washington to California and New Mexico in the United States, and throughout much of northern and central Mexi...
s are present in the chaparral

Chaparral

Chaparral is a shrubland or Heath plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of Lower California, Mexico....
biome of western North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, where they occur from southern British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's Provinces and territories of Canada and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu ....
in Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, Washington

Washington

Washington is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute....
to California

California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
and New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a U. S. State located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. Inhabited by Native Americans in the United States populations for many centuries, it has also has been part of the Spanish Empire viceroyalty of New Spain, part of Mexico, and a U.S....
in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, and throughout much of northern and central Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
.

Three species, the bearberries

Bearberry

Bearberries are three species of dwarf shrubs in the genus Arctostaphylos. Unlike the other species of Arctostaphylos , they are adapted to Arctic and sub-Arctic climates, and have a circumpolar distribution in northern North America, Asia and Europe, one with a small highly disjunct population in Central America....
, A. alpina (Alpine Bearberry), A. rubra (Red Bearberry) and A. uva-ursi (Common Bearberry), have adapted to arctic

Arctic

The Arctic is the region around the Earth's North Pole, opposite the Antarctica region around the South Pole. The Arctic includes the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Greenland , Russia, the United States , Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Finland....
and subarctic

Subarctic

The Subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Alaska, Canada and Siberia, the north of Scandinavia, northern Mongolia and the Chinese province of Heilongjiang....
climates, and have a circumpolar

Circumpolar

The term circumpolar may refer to:* circumpolar navigation: to travel the world "vertically" traversing both of the poles* the Antarctic Circumpolar Current...
distribution in northern North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
and Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
.

An unusual association of Manzanita occurs on Hood Mountain

Hood Mountain

Hood Mountain is a mountain near the southeastern edge of Santa Rosa, California at the northeast of the Sonoma Valley that attains a height of 2,730 feet above mean sea level....
, in Sonoma County, California

Sonoma County, California

Sonoma County, located on the northern coast of California, is one of the northernmost counties of the nine county Greater San Francisco Bay Area, United States Its population at the 2000 census was 458,614....
, where stands of pygmy forest

Pygmy forest

A pygmy forest is a forest which, for pedology and geology reasons, contains only miniature trees. Pygmy forests are usually associated with the coastal terraces and inner coastal mountains of Northern California....
dominated by Mendocino Cypress are found.

Cultivation

Cultivation is generally difficult due to fungal

Fungus

A fungus is a Eukaryote organism that is a member of the Kingdom Fungi . The fungi are a monophyletic group, also called the Eumycota , that is phylogeny distinct from the morphologically similar slime molds and water molds ....
diseases, and often salinity and alkalinity. Overhead watering should be avoided in hot weather. Some cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
s are easier to cultivate.