Manzanita Park is located in beautiful Monterey County in California. It is about 500 acres. 50 acres are set aside for youth recreation while the rest of the land is a Nature Preserve. There are rare and endangered plants in the park as well as many other native plants. The park also has several non-native invasive plants that threaten the maritime chaparral habitat.

The park is named after the Manzanita plants that are native to the area. Manzanita means "little apple" in Spanish, and the fruit of the Manzanita plants do look just like tiny apples. The Manzanita flowers look like little bells and the bees love them.

Manzanita Park is home to 3 kinds of Manzanita plants. They are Pajaro Manzanita (Arctostaphylos pajaroensis), Hooker's Manzanita (Arctostaphylos hookeri/hookeri), and Brittle-leaf Manzanita (Arctostaphylos tomentosa ssp. crustacea).

Here is some more important information about Manzanita plants.

SIZE
Young Manzanita plants often grow close to the ground and may be only about a foot tall, but older plants get fairly large and can be the size of an elephant.

COLOR
When you look at the Manzanita in Manzanita Park you can see 2 main colors. The Hooker's Manzanita is more green, and the Pajaro Manzanita and Brittle-leaf Manzanita are blue green. When the new leaves come out in the spring, they are red at the tips.

LEAF TYPES
Hooker's Manzanita and Brittle-leaf Manzanita have leaves with their own little stems called petioles. Pajaro Manzanita has leaves that don't have their own stems; the leaves are stuck right on to the main stem. These are called sessile leaves, and they are not very common in plants.

• Pajaro Manzanita (Arctostaphylos pajaroensis)
• Brittle Leaf Manzanita (Arctostaphylos tomentosa ssp. crustacea)
• Hooker's Manzanita (Arctostaphylos hookeri/hookeri)

Last Updated: May 25, 2005

Webmaster: Guillermo Cabrera

View Site Statistics