HEATH FAMILY 41 



similar to A. stanfordiana which it resembles somewhat in the character of its foliage and branch- 

 lets. The pericarp of the fruit dehisces irregularly, releasing the nutlets ; rarely it is almost regu- 

 larly circumscissile. 



Refs. — Arctostaphylos elegans Jepson, Erythea 1:15 (1893), type loc. obsidian slopes 

 south of Mt. Konocti (Uncle Sam Mt.), Lake Co., Jepson 14,729; Man. 747 (1925). 



11. A. manzanita Parry. Parry Manzanita. (Pig. 298.) Shrub 6 to 12 feet 

 high, commonly very erect, sometimes widely branched from the base with long 

 straggling crooked branches, sometimes becoming almost elephantine in its propor- 

 tions and up to 22 feet high ; branchlets, peduncles, and raehis finely puberulent 

 or somewhat canescently puberulent; pedicels glabrous; leaves commonly dull 

 green, often with a faintly purple venation, thick, glabrous or very minutely pu- 

 berulent, the blades elliptic or oblong, acute or subacute at apex, acute or obtuse at 

 base, 1 to 1 V'2 inches long ; panicles drooping ; flowers white, sometimes pink-tinged ; 

 bracts triangular-acute or -acuminate, small and dry ; ovary glabrous or essentially 

 so ; berry subglobose tliough a little depressed, dull white in early summer, becom- 

 ing deep reddish brown in late .summer and autumn, smooth and glabrous, 4 to 5 

 lines in diameter; nutlets irregularly coalescent or separate, keeled or ridged and 

 roughened on back, and often with 2 small lateral ridges. 



Dry clay, gravelly or rocliy slopes in the foothills, 250 to 2500 (or 4200) feet: 

 North Coast Ranges (middle and inner ranges only or mostly) from Napa and 

 Solano Cos. to western Shasta Co. ; Sierra Nevada foothills from Tuolumne Co. to 

 eastern Shasta Co. Nov.-Mar. 



Field note. — In the Pinus ponderosa lower border chaparral, Arctostaphylos manzanita is 

 an important species in northern California. On HoweU Mountain in the Napa Range it is 

 everywhere associated with Western Yellow Pine or occurs just below it altitudinally. A very 

 extensive formation of Arctostaphylos manzanita is found between Mt. St. Helena in Napa County 

 and Lower Lake village in Lake County. This region of low hUls has been swept by innumerable 

 fires, especially during the last ninety years. Destruction by fire and logging by man has dimin- 

 ished the thin stand of Pinus ponderosa but occasional trees still linger as relics, the present stand 

 of Parry Manzanita occurring mainly as a lower border to the pine. West of Lower Lake the 

 terrain rises and here Arcto.staphylos manzanita is replaced by Arctostaphylos elegans. In central 

 Mendocino Co., especially in Long Valley, Arctostaphylos manzanita is not only associated with 

 Western Tellow Pine but also forms fine colonies as a lower border to it. Likewise at the lowest 

 altitudes of Yellow Pine in the northern Sierra Nevada foothills this manzanita may be found 

 with that pine and especially just below it. The presence of Arctostaphylos manzanita and the 

 absence of Pinus ponderosa in a range such as the Vaca Mts., where the woodland complex has 

 been changed by increasing aridity and by long-repeated forest fires, may be an indication that 

 Pinus ponderosa was present at an earlier time and that its border associate is fitted to persist 

 under somewhat more severe conditions. Throughout its range generally Arctostaphylos manza- 

 nita occurs as an associate of other shrub species in typical chaparral, but is also found as pure 

 colonies in opens of woods. 



Parry Manzanita is the largest species of the genus, though the trunk of Arctostaphylos 

 glauca may become as massive. Where it inhabits moist valley flats or rich montane ridges and 

 where on account of favorable situation it has been protected from fire for a long period it may 

 become arborescent and attain considerable size. On the lower westerly slopes of Howell Mt. 

 individuals have been measured as follows: (a) by Stingy Stile on trail to Adam-and-Eve, height 

 15 feet, trunk 4 feet high before branching into four arms, its diameter 1 foot, 2 inches at 3 feet 

 above ground; (b) on trail to Adam-and-Evc, height 18 feet, trunk 2 feet high before branching 

 into 5 arms, its diameter 1 foot, 2 inches at IV^ feet above ground; (c) on little ridge west of 

 Lyons Valley, height 22 feet, trunk 1 foot 8 inches high before branching into 2 arms, its smallest 

 diameter (at ground) 11% inches; (d) in gully below Pour Corners, 12 feet high, trunk 22 inches 

 in diameter at ground (Jepson Field Book, 31:172-173. 1915. ms.) ; on trail to Sanitarium below 

 Pour Corners, height 14 feet, trunk branching at 18 inches from ground, diameter 20 inches at 

 4 inches above the ground, 26 inches at 18 inches above the ground ; on trail to Adam-and-Eve, 

 height 14% feet, trunk parting at 1 foot into many branches, circumference 6 feet ^4 inch at 6 

 inches above ground (Jepson Field Book, 57:29-32. 1936. ms.). 



The shrubs are completely killed by fire and do not sprout from the root-crown. Sometimes 

 a shrub is consumed but frequently the effect of fire is simply lethal. Individuals thus killed, both 

 of Arctostaphylos manzanita and A. stanfordiana, may, therefore, stand as skeletons on the slopes 

 after fires, but the skeletons of the latter usually go down under the first winter's storms while 

 those of A. manzanita may stand for three or four years before overthrown. The lack of regenera- 

 tive vitality in the vegetative organs of Arctostaphylos manzanita is further evidenced by the 



