About Arctostaphylos virgata Eastw.
Arctostaphylos virgata is a large shrub that grows to at least two meters tall, and can grow over 5 meters tall to take on a treelike form. Its twisted branches are covered in deep red bark. Smaller twigs are covered with woolly fibers, and dotted with glandular bristles that release sticky resins. The shiny green leaves are rough and sticky in texture, oval to widely lance-shaped, and grow up to 5 centimeters long. Its inflorescence is a dense cluster of the characteristic urn-shaped flowers of manzanitas. The fruit is a sticky, bristly drupe around 6 to 8 millimeters wide. This species is endemic to Marin County, California, where it is only found in around 20 occurrences in the forests and chaparral of the coastal hills. It is a dominant shrub in some areas of the maritime chaparral plant community at Point Reyes National Seashore. Like many other species in this type of plant community, it depends on wildfire, and its survival is threatened by fire suppression.
