''Arctostaphylos mewukka'' is a species of
manzanita known by the common name Indian manzanita.
Description
''Arctostaphylos mewukka'' is a mostly hairless
shrub
A shrub (often also called a 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 ...
growing to heights between 1 and 4 meters, with or without a
burl at the base. Leaves are variable in shape, from nearly round to widely lance-shaped, up to 7 centimeters long, and dull, smooth, and sometimes waxy in texture. The
inflorescence is a loose cluster of urn-shaped manzanita flowers. The fruit is a dark reddish-brown spherical
drupe
In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...
up to 1.6 centimeters wide.
Distribution and habitat
''Arctostaphylos mewukka'' is
endemic to the
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...
of
California, where it grows in the mountain
chaparral
Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...
in the
temperate coniferous forests of the range.
References
External links
Jepson Manual Treatment: ''Arctostaphylos mewukka''USDA Plants Profile''Arctostaphylos mewukka'' Photo gallery
mewukka
Endemic flora of California
Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
Plants described in 1918
Flora without expected TNC conservation status
{{Ericaceae-stub