''Arctostaphylos nevadensis'', with the common name pinemat manzanita, is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
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 Or ...
.
Distribution
''Arctostaphylos nevadensis'' is native to western North America from
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
to
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, where it grows in the
coniferous forests
Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...
of the inland and coastal mountain ranges. It is a dominant
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 ...
in the mountain understory
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 many areas.
Description
''Arctostaphylos nevadensis'' is a short, spreading shrub forming mats, tangles, or mounds less than half a meter tall. The larger branches have dull red bark and the twigs are generally woolly. Leaves are bright green and shiny, with few hairs especially along the edges. They measure 1 to 3 centimeters in length. The shrub blooms in spherical clusters of urn-shaped whitish manzanita flowers. The fruit is a 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'') ...
about 7 millimeters wide.
Cultivation
This species is cultivated as a chaparral landscaping plant and it is used to stabilize soil against
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
on mountain slopes.
Fire Service Ecology
/ref>
See also
*California chaparral and woodlands
The California chaparral and woodlands is a terrestrial ecoregion of southwestern Oregon, northern, central, and southern California (United States) and northwestern Baja California (Mexico), located on the west coast of North America. It is a ...
References
External links
Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Arctostaphylos nevadensis''USDA Plants Profile; Arctostaphylos nevadensis''Arctostaphylos nevadensis'' - Photo gallery
nevadensis
Flora of California
Flora of Oregon
Flora of Washington (state)
Flora of the Cascade Range
Flora of the Klamath Mountains
Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States)
Plants described in 1878
Flora without expected TNC conservation status
{{Ericaceae-stub