Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Arctostaphylos nissenana

Arctostaphylos luciana

nissenan manzanita

Santa Lucia manzanita
Habit Shrubs, erect or mound-forming, 0.2–1.5 m; burl absent; bark on older stems persistent, gray, shredded; twigs short soft-hairy. Shrubs or trees, erect, 2–3 m; burl absent; twigs sparsely short-hairy.
Leaves

petiole 1–3 mm;

blade gray-glaucous, dull, elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 1–2 × 0.8–1.5 cm, base cuneate to rounded, margins entire, plane, surfaces smooth, sparsely appressed-puberulent, glabrescent.

petiole to 2 mm;

blade glaucous, dull, ovate to ± orbiculate, 2–4 × 1.5–2.5 cm, base distinctly lobed, auriculate-clasping, margins entire, plane, surfaces smooth, appressed gray-canescent to finely tomen-tose, glabrescent.
Inflorescences

racemes, simple or 1-branched;

immature inflorescence pendent, (framed by leafy bracts), axis 0.2–0.5 cm, 1+ mm diam., short soft-hairy;

bracts not appressed, narrowly leaflike, lanceolate, 3–5 mm, apex acute, surfaces glabrous or sparsely hairy.

racemes, simple or 1-branched;

immature inflorescence pendent, (branches crowded, concealed by bracts), axis 0.5–1 cm, 1+ mm diam., sparsely short-hairy;

bracts not appressed, leaflike, linear-lanceolate, 5–10 mm, apex acuminate, surfaces canescent.
Pedicels

5–7 mm, sparsely hairy or glabrous.

5–10 mm, glabrous.
Flowers

corolla white, urceolate;

ovary white-hairy.

corolla white, conic to urceolate;

ovary glabrous.
Fruits

subglobose, 3–4 mm diam., glabrous.

depressed-globose, 6–12 mm diam., glabrous.
Stones

distinct.

distinct.
2n

= 26.

= 26.

Arctostaphylos nissenana

Arctostaphylos luciana
Phenology Flowering winter–early spring. Flowering winter–early spring.
Habitat Shallow shale soils in chaparral and foothill woodlands Chaparral
Elevation 500-1200 m (1600-3900 ft) 300-500 m (1000-1600 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Arctostaphylos nissenana occurs in the western Sierra Nevada in El Dorado, Placer, and Tuolumne counties.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Arctostaphylos luciana is found on siliceous shale east of Cuesta Pass in the southern Santa Lucia Mountains of San Luis Obispo County.

of conservation concern

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 8, p. 425. FNA vol. 8, p. 431.
Parent taxa Ericaceae > subfam. Arbutoideae > Arctostaphylos Ericaceae > subfam. Arbutoideae > Arctostaphylos
Sibling taxa
A. andersonii, A. auriculata, A. bakeri, A. canescens, A. catalinae, A. columbiana, A. confertiflora, A. crustacea, A. cruzensis, A. densiflora, A. edmundsii, A. franciscana, A. gabilanensis, A. glandulosa, A. glauca, A. glutinosa, A. hispidula, A. hookeri, A. hooveri, A. imbricata, A. insularis, A. klamathensis, A. luciana, A. malloryi, A. manzanita, A. mewukka, A. montana, A. montaraensis, A. montereyensis, A. morroensis, A. myrtifolia, A. nevadensis, A. nortensis, A. nummularia, A. obispoensis, A. ohloneana, A. osoensis, A. otayensis, A. pacifica, A. pajaroensis, A. pallida, A. parryana, A. patula, A. pechoensis, A. pilosula, A. pringlei, A. pumila, A. pungens, A. purissima, A. rainbowensis, A. refugioensis, A. regismontana, A. rudis, A. sensitiva, A. silvicola, A. stanfordiana, A. tomentosa, A. uva-ursi, A. virgata, A. viridissima, A. viscida
A. andersonii, A. auriculata, A. bakeri, A. canescens, A. catalinae, A. columbiana, A. confertiflora, A. crustacea, A. cruzensis, A. densiflora, A. edmundsii, A. franciscana, A. gabilanensis, A. glandulosa, A. glauca, A. glutinosa, A. hispidula, A. hookeri, A. hooveri, A. imbricata, A. insularis, A. klamathensis, A. malloryi, A. manzanita, A. mewukka, A. montana, A. montaraensis, A. montereyensis, A. morroensis, A. myrtifolia, A. nevadensis, A. nissenana, A. nortensis, A. nummularia, A. obispoensis, A. ohloneana, A. osoensis, A. otayensis, A. pacifica, A. pajaroensis, A. pallida, A. parryana, A. patula, A. pechoensis, A. pilosula, A. pringlei, A. pumila, A. pungens, A. purissima, A. rainbowensis, A. refugioensis, A. regismontana, A. rudis, A. sensitiva, A. silvicola, A. stanfordiana, A. tomentosa, A. uva-ursi, A. virgata, A. viridissima, A. viscida
Name authority Merriam: Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 31: 102, plates 4, 5. 1918 , P. V. Wells: Leafl. W. Bot. 10: 177. 1965 ,
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers