Manzanita

Feb 03, 2014 5 Replies

Manzanita berries. Just now starting to drop off.

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From the few visible leaves and the appearance of the berries, this might also be cotoneaster.

Today, I saw a toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) that looked very much like your photo. It had the same mass of berries, and the leaves were slightly toothed. Toyon and cotoneaster are both in the rose family as is pyracantha, another shrub with masses of red berries.

I think manzanita is in the heather family. One way to distinguish it is that it has small urn-shaped, white or pink flowers. Toyon, cotoneaster, and pyracantha have tiny flowers that resemble single roses (if you get close enough to see them); the only flowers that I have seen were white but so small that they were almost unnoticed.

This one has white urn-shaped flowers.

I was afraid at first it was the Franciscan type that was just discovered in San Francisco. All I need is an endangered plant on the property and all the nonsense that goes along with it. LOL!

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