Xylococcus bicolor (Mission manzanita)

Mission manzanita has a limited native range in California and Baja California, Mexico. There is speculation that this plant depends on grizzly bears, long gone from the region, to eat and distribute the seeds—the long-lived species may be on the decline.

Plants: This shrub reaches 9½′ (3 m) in height and about 6½′ (2 m) in diameter. Bark is gray at first, becoming reddish and somewhat peeling later.

Leaves: Narrow pointed ovals, dark green on top, light and feltlike on the bottom, curled downward.

Flowers: White to pink to yellowish at the open end, bell-shaped, ¼–⅜″ (8–10 mm) long.

Fruits: Hard reddish fruits ¼″ (6.3 mm) around, composed almost entirely of a large, hard seed.

Habitats: The California chaparral and woodlands and California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregions. It grows at elevations below 3,500 feet.

2/26/2010 · Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, La Jolla, California · ≈ 1½ × 1′ (52 × 34 cm)

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin)
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Ericales	Tea, persimmon, blueberry, Brazil nut, azalea, many others
Family	Ericaceae	Heath or heather family
Genus	Xylococcus	From the Greek for “wood berry”
Species	bicolor	Named for the two-colored flowers

About plant names...