Hansen's Northwest Native Plant Database

Arctostaphylos patula (Greenleaf Manzanita)

Kingdom Plantae – Plants

Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants

Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants

Division Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants

Class Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons

Subclass Dilleniidae

Order Ericales

Family Ericaceae – Heath family

Genus Arctostaphylos Adans. – manzanita

Species Arctostaphylos patula Greene – greenleaf manzanita

A fine evergreen shrub with stout, crooked branches reaching to 7 ft at maturity. The reddish-brown bark is glossy and smooth. As each branch ages, the bark comes off in strips showing a whitish-green color underneath.

The oval leaves alternate on the branches. Their leathery glossy texture shows the light green color to good advantage.

Photo courtesy of Walter Seigmund

Urn-shaped flowers are pinkish white in large clusters which bob up and down in the slightest breeze. After their early spring appearance, they remain on the shrub until replaced by the fruit. Each berry-like fruit resembles a small apple with colors dark reddish-brown to black. Inside the skin, a sparse mealy pulp is wrapped around from 4 to 10 hard seeds.

Grow this native shrub in full sun or light shade in dry well-drained soils. It is hardy to USDA zone 5. Perfect in the wildlife garden.

Greenleaf Manzanita is native to Washington through the Oregon Cascades and south through the Sierra Nevada to the Coast Range of northern California, east to the Great Basin and western Colorado, and south to the higher elevations of northern Arizona.

Photo below courtesy of Walter Seigmund