Arctostaphylos hookeri
Common name: 
Hooker's Manzanita
Monterey Manzanita
Pronunciation: 
ark-tow-STAF-i-los HOOK-er-i
Family: 
Ericaceae
Type: 
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
No
  • Broadleaf evergreen shrub, low growing, may from a dense mound, usually less than 3 ft (~1 m) high, occasionally 6.5-10 ft (2-3 m), twigs tomentose.  Bark smooth, red-brown.  Leaves erect, ~1-3 cm long and 0.5-1.5 cm wide, round, wide-elliptic or oblanceolate, base rounded to wedge-shaped, tip acute, margin entire, surfaces similar, bright green, shiny, minutely pubescent, becoming glabrous, smooth; petiole 1–8 mm.  Flowers white to pink, urn-shaped, in small terminal clusters; bloom period from early spring to summer.  Fruit about 1 cm wide, more or less spherical, glabrous, red.
  • Sun and part sun, well-drained soil, needs occasional summer water.
  • Hardy to USDA Zone 8    Native to California, north and central Coast and San Francisco Bay Area.  Several subspecies have been identified:
    • A. hookeri subsp. franciscana [Franciscan Manzanita] -- prostrate, mat-like; leaves 1.5–2 cm long, 0.5–1 cm wide, oblanceolate; flowers fruit, 6-8 mm wide.  Presumed extinct in native California habitat, in cultivation.
    • A. hookeri subsp. hearstiorum [Hearst's Manzanita] -- prostrate, mat-like, rooting at lower nodes; leaves 0.8–1.2 cm long, 4–7 mm wide, elliptic to lanceolate-elliptic; flowers ; fruit, 3-4 mm wide.  Central California Coast.
    • A. hookeri subsp. hookeri [Monterey or Hooker's Manzanita] -- mound like, stems on the ground or erect; leaves 2–3 cm long, 1–1.5 cm wide, narrowly to widely elliptic; flowers; fruit 4-6 mm wide.  California's North and Central Coast and San Francisco Bay Area.
    • A. hookeri subsp. montana [Tamalpais manzanita] -- mound like, stems on the ground or erect; leaves 1–2.5 cm long, 1–1.5 cm wide, round-elliptic to elliptic; flowers; fruit 6-8 mm wide,  California's northern Central Coast, northwest San Francisco Bay Area (Mount Tamalpais, Marin Co.), generally on serpentine outcrops.
    • A. hookeri subsp. ravenii [Presidio or Raven's Manzanita] -- prostrate, mat-like, less than 3ft (~1 m) high; leaves 1–2 cm long, 1–1.5 cm wide, round to round-elliptic; flowers; fruit 4-5 mm wide.  California's northern Central Coast (San Francisco Presidio), plants apparently belong to a single clone.
  • hookeri: named for Sir William Jackson Hooker (1785-1865), unsuccessful brewer and extremely successful professor of botany, from 1841 the director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew (Stearn, 1996).

 

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  • Arctostaphylos hookeri

    Arctostaphylos hookeri