Plant Name
Scientific Name: Arctostaphylos pungens
Common Name: Pointleaf Manzanita
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial, Evergreen
Growth Habit: Shrub, Subshrub
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Upland, Mountain
Flower Color: Pale pink, White
Flowering Season: Winter (late), Spring (early)
Height: To 6 feet (1.8 m) tall
Description: The flowers are glabrous, shaped like inverted vases, 1/4 inch (6 mm) long, and in clusters at the branch tips. The flowers are followed by round, reddish brown to orange berries. Animals and birds will eat the fruit. The leaves are green, stiff, leathery, held vertically, and have sharply pointed tips. The branches have beautiful, smooth, reddish brown bark.
Special Characteristics
Edible – The fruit is edible either raw or cooked, but it is dry and mealy.
Hummingbird Flower – The flowers attract hummingbirds.
Classification
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 pungens Kunth – pointleaf manzanita
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