BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Arctostaphylos nevadensis | Pinemat Manzanita 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Pinemat manzanita is a native, spreading to prostrate, evergreen
sclerophyllous shrub from 1 to 2 feet (0.3-0.6 m) in height.  It is
much-branched, with branchlets becoming viscid with age.  It typically
lacks a lignotuber (see Taxonomy).  The bark is thin and freely
exfoliating.  A description of its root system was not found in the
literature.  The fruit is a berrylike drupe containing several nutlets
[6,17,21,25].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Phanerophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Vegetative:  Pinemat manzanita roots adventitiously where stems contact
soil [3].  Plants buried under tephra following the 1980 eruption of
Mount St. Helens produced 5 to 10 adventitious roots per centimeter of
stem during the next growing season [1].  Manzanita species such as
pinemat manzanita that lack a lignotuber generally do not sprout after
aboveground portions of the plant are damaged [3,25].

Sexual:  Little is known about pinemat manzanita sexual regeneration
except that it establishes from soil-stored seed in large numbers
following fire [27].  Seedling recruitment at other times is not
documented in the literature.

Manzanita species seeds are disseminated by frugivorous birds and
mammals [31].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Pinemat manzanita is an indicator of cold, dry sites [23].  It occurs in
a modified maritime climate:  winters are wet, but high pressure systems
in summer result in clear, dry weather [24].  Precipitation may be rain
or snow, depending upon elevation.  Pinemat manzanita occurs from 2,000
to 10,000 feet (610-3,049 m) in elevation, and is most common above
5,000 feet (1,524 m) [25].  The typical growing season is therefore
short; snowpack often does not melt until July [2,24].

Soils supporting pinemat manzanita are typically shallow, infertile, and
poorly developed [2].  Textures vary from sand to loam and often contain
coarse fragments [26,30,37].  Pinemat manzanita tolerates serpentine
soils but is not restricted to them [16,39].




SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Pinemat manzanita colonizes disturbed sites [17].  It grows well in open
plant communities where light levels are high, and persists until late
seres.  It does not tolerate the low light levels of closed canopy
forests.  McNeil and Zobel [22] reported that pinemat manzanita in the
understory of a white fir (Abies concolor) forest of Crater Lake
National Park, Oregon, died where the canopy had closed.


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Pinemat manzanita phenological development in the Cascade Range of
central Oregon is as follows [29]:

growth begins:  late May
flowering:  late May to mid-June
fruit develops:  mid-June to early July
fruit sets:  mid-July to late September

Related categories for Species: Arctostaphylos nevadensis | Pinemat Manzanita