Santa Lucia manzanita

Description

Arctostaphylos luciana is a species of manzanita known by the common name Santa Lucia manzanita, is endemic to California. The woody plant is endemic to the southern Santa Lucia Mountains, in San Luis Obispo County. It grows in coastal sage scrub chaparral habitats, on shale outcrops and slopes, from 100–800 metres (330–2,620 ft) in elevation. It is found growing on ocean facing slopes in the upper boundary of the marine layer. Arctostaphylos luciana is a shrub or small multi-trunked tree growing 2–3 metres (6.6–9.8 ft) in height. Its leaves are glaucous−gray, waxy and woolly to smooth and hairless, with smooth edges. They are base lobed (articulate), rounded to oval in shape, 1.5–2.5 centimetres (0.59–0.98 in) wide and 2–4 centimetres (0.79–1.57 in) long. The inflorescence is a cluster of pink and white, hairless, urn-shaped and downward facing "manzanita" flowers. The bloom period is from February to March. The fruit is a red to green-red drupe, up to 1.2 centimetres (0.47 in) wide. The species is listed on the California Native Plant Society Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants as a fairly endangered and vulnerable species. Some populations are protected within the southern Cuesta Ridge Botanical Special Interest Area of the Los Padres National Forest. Arctostaphylos is a genus of plants comprising the manzanitas and bearberries. They are shrubs or small trees. There are about 60 species, of Arctostaphylos, ranging from ground-hugging arctic, coastal, and mountain species to small trees up to 6 m tall. Most are evergreen (one species deciduous), with small oval leaves 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 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 larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora arctostaphyli (which feeds exclusively on A. uva-ursi) and Coleophora glaucella. Manzanitas, the bulk of Arctostaphylos species, are 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 Mexico.