Mallory’s manzanita

Arctostaphylos canescens Eastwood subsp. malloryi W. Knight & Gankin, Four Seasons 6(4): 23. 1983

Shrubs, erect or mound-forming, 1-3 m; burl absent; twigs sparsely short-hairy, viscid glandular-hairy. Leaves: petiole 5-10 mm; blade glaucous, dull, orbiculate to ovate, 2-3 × 1.5-2.5 cm, base rounded, truncate, or ± lobed, margins entire, plane, surfaces smooth, gray-canescent or densely white-tomentose, glabrescent. Inflorescences panicles, 2-5-branched; immature inflorescence pendent, branches spreading or ascending, axis 1-2 cm, 1+ mm diam., sparsely short-hairy, viscid glandular-hairy; bracts appressed, scalelike, linear-lanceolate, 3-5 mm, apex acute, surfaces canescent. Pedicels 6-9 mm, finely glandular-hairy. Flowers: corolla white, conic to urceolate; ovary densely white-hairy. Fruits depressed-globose, 7-9 mm diam., hairy or glabrous. Stones distinct. 2n = 26.

Flowering winter-late spring. Chaparral, open forests; of conservation concern; 200-1200 m; Calif.

Arctostaphylos malloryi occurs in disjunct popu-lations on volcanic soils in Colusa, Shasta, and Sonoma counties in the North Coast Ranges. It possibly originated as a hybrid between A. canescens and A. viscida, and merits further study.