About Arctostaphylos morroensis Wiesl. & B.Schreib.
Arctostaphylos morroensis Wiesl. & B.Schreib. is a spreading shrub that grows up to 4 meters tall, and is typically wider than it is tall. It has shreddy red-gray bark, and whiskery bristles cover its smaller branches and twigs. Its leaves are oval-shaped, slightly convex, dark green on the upper surface, and a duller gray-green on the underside. In winter, plentiful flowers hang in dense clusters on short pedicels. The flowers are usually very light pink, urn-shaped, and hairy inside. The fruits are fuzzy red drupes, each about one centimeter wide. At the northern edge of its range, this species may overlap with Arctostaphylos osoensis. The two can be told apart by leaf structure: A. osoensis has heart-shaped leaves that clasp the stem, while A. morroensis has more typical leaves attached to the main branch by a small petiole. A. osoensis is also mostly restricted to volcanic outcroppings linked to the Nine Sisters, but A. morroensis can sometimes grow on this formation as well, so habitat alone is not enough to distinguish the two species. There are 18 known occurrences of Arctostaphylos morroensis, and it grows abundantly in some local areas. It is mostly limited to a specific substrate called "Baywood fine sands", a sandy soil that formed as windblown sand dunes during the Pleistocene. The plant grows in less than 900 acres of coastal sage scrub and chaparral habitat, and sometimes forms dense monotypic stands on hillsides. Two-thirds of its habitat is privately owned, and part of this land is planned for development. Combined with the species' narrow habitat requirements and other threats, this led to Arctostaphylos morroensis being listed as a threatened species in 1994. Some populations of the plant are protected within Montaña de Oro State Park. Arctostaphylos morroensis is cultivated as an ornamental landscaping plant for California native plant gardens, drought-tolerant gardens, and natural habitat gardens.
