Description

The Oso manzanita grows in the coastal mountains near San Luis Obispo on California’s central coast. This area supports quite a variety of manzanita species. The Oso manzanita grows as a rounded shrub with shiny leaves that are somewhat heart-shaped. New leaves have an attractive red margin. Like several other species, the Oso manzania’s leaves are auriculate, i.e. have little or no stem between the leaf and the branch, with the base of the leaf wrapping around the branch.. Oso manzanita has smooth red bark which takes on a gray hew with age. Mature bark may peel in long gray strips. The branches tend to grow in a twisted shape, and make an interesting display as the shrub matures.