''Arctostaphylos nummularia'' is a species of

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 and Washington to O ...

known by the common names glossyleaf manzanita, dwarf manzanita and Fort Bragg manzanita. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where it grows in the forests of the coastal and inland ranges north of the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

Taxonomy

One subspecies is the pygmy manzanita (''Arctostaphylos nummularia'' subsp. ''mendocinoensis''), which is endemic to Mendocino County, California, where it is found in the pygmy forests near the coast.

Description

''Arctostaphylos nummularia'' is a red-barked

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

reaching a maximum height between one and two meters. The smaller twigs are covered lightly in white glandular bristles. The leaves are oval-shaped to nearly round, one to two centimeters long and wide. The edges are very finely toothed to nearly smooth, lined with tiny bristles, and sometimes curled under. The upper surface of the leaf is darker green and shinier than the underside. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

holds a cluster of hanging flowers, which are spherical and white to pink-tinged. The fruit is a cylindrical

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

less than half a centimeter long containing a few seeds.

External links

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Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Arctostaphylos nummularia''USDA Plants Profile''Arctostaphylos nummularia'' - Photo gallery
nummularia Endemic flora of California Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the San Francisco Bay Area Natural history of Mendocino County, California Natural history of Sonoma County, California Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Ericaceae-stub