Arctostaphylos stanfordiana

Arctostaphylos stanfordiana is a species in the Ericaceae (Heath) family known by the common name Stanford’s manzanita. It is endemic to California, in the outer North Coast Ranges north of the San Francisco Bay Area. This is a bushy shrub growing one half meter to two meters in height. Leaves are oblong to widely lance-shaped, shiny green, and up to 5 centimeters long. The flower cluster is a loose cluster of urn-shaped manzanita flowers which are pink, with some so pale that they are nearly white. The fruit is an oblong drupe about 7 millimeters wide. In the garden this Manzanita is very versatile, being tolerant of a variety of soils (including serpentine) and climates. It has especially attractive bark. Baker’s Manzanita was formerly considered a subspecies of stanfordiana, and some sources may still refer to it that way; however, Arctostaphylos bakeri is now considered a separate species. Stanfordiana still has 2 recognized subspecies, decumbens and raichei, both of which are rare in the wild.