Bishop manzanita

Description

Arctostaphylos obispoensis is a species of manzanita, known by the common names bishop manzanita and serpentine manzanita, endemic to California. The plant is endemic to the southern Santa Lucia Mountains, in the Central Coast region of California. It is found primarily in San Luis Obispo County, and extends into southern Monterey County. It grows in chaparral and closed-cone pine forest habitats, usually on serpentine soil. It is found at elevations of 60–950 metres (200–3,120 ft). Arctostaphylos obispoensis is an upright shrub or multi-trunked tree growing to 1–4 metres (3.3–13.1 ft) in height. The small branches and newer leaves are woolly. The mature leaves are glaucous-gray, hairless, and oblong (northern range) to widely lance-shaped (southern range), and up to 4.5 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a dense cluster of white urn-shaped and downward facing "manzanita" flowers. The red fruit is a round waxy drupe, 9–14 millimetres (0.35–0.55 in) in diameter. It is protected within the Cuesta Ridge Botanical Special Interest Area of the Los Padres National Forest, growing in the endemic Sargent cypress (Cupressus sargentii) forest. The species is listed on the California Native Plant Society Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants as a rare but not currently endangered species. 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.