Arctostaphylos glauca – “Big-Berried Manzanita”

Family: Heath (Ericaceae)
Bloom Period: Jan-Feb
Form: Perennial shrub
Habitat: Isolated canyons
Leaves: Ovate to nearly round, smooth or toothed along the margins; alternate
Translation: “Arctostaphylos” is Greek for “a grape bunch for bears,” and bears do eat the fruit where their habitats overlap with this plant in other parts of California.
Notes: The common name is Spanish for “little apple” because of the appearance of the fruits. European settlers used them for vinegar, brandy and jelly. Contemporary Californians have vinted them into wine. I myself have made hard cider from fruit collected in the Klamath-Siskiyous area of southern Oregon and fermented with an English cider yeast. The result was very pleasing. I was quite surprised to run across this plant in Joshua Tree National Park because I associate it with a totally different climate. As it turns out, there are about 60 species of Manzanita, ranging from Central America to Canada and northern Asia. However, few of the specimens I observed in the Park were thriving, and more were dead than alive. Perhaps Climate Change is driving this species out of the area.
Native American Uses: The Cahuilla treated diarrhea and poison oak rash with an infusion of the leaves, made porridge or cakes from the ground seeds, smoked the leaves with tobacco, and used the branches for house-building, the wood for fires, and the stems for small tools and pipes. As for the berries, they mashed them to make a beverage, sun-dried them for storage, ground them into flour for porridge, and processed them into an aspic-like gelatinous state. The Kumeyaay ate the berries fresh and made brooms from the branches. The Kawaiisu also made a beverage from the berries, which they combined with California Chia.
Animal Associations: Many butterflies and insects attracted to the flowers, as well as hummingbirds. Fruit eaten by many birds, and also the Ring-tailed Cat. Forage plant for the Mule Deer.