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Mission Manzanita, Xylococcus bicolor, Escondido, California

1,137 views · Published 30 October 2012 · 3:20 · Indexed 1 October 2026

Channel: Melvin Wei · 2012 · Science & Technology

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Mission manzanita is a very slow-growing shrub that is native to only a relatively small territory consisting of coastal San Diego, an area south of Temecula (Riverside, California), coastal central to Nothern Baja California, and Santa Catalina Island. Mission manzanita produces dark red berries that have little flesh and consist mostly of woody seed; Xylococcus means "woody seed" in Greek. This chaparral community member plant grows to about 3 meters high and 3 meters wide. The curved glossy mature leaves have the advantage of being able to absorb reflected light and light from almost all angles efficiently for photosynthesis.

Some botanists that study the chaparral ecosystem have noted that seedlings of mission manzanita (grown from seeds, not adventitious roots) are virtually nonexistent in the wild these days. One theory is that the California grizzly bear, which has been extinct for over 100 years, used to be a main consumer of mission manzanita berries and agent of seed dispersal through droppings; under this theory, the mission manzanita is endangered as all the existing plants are mature and will eventually die off from old age or fires, and the species will go extinct in the wild. Some saplings were found in downtown San Diego in Balboa Park, without wildfires, coyotes, bears, or any natural agents of seed dispersal/germination present, so obviously the plant is capable of reproducing on its own. Mission manzanita berries are part of the coyote's diet.

Mission manzanita is a somewhat unremarkable plant in the dry hills of the chaparral, but its limited home range is puzzling. It could just be that this is not a particularly robust plant that requires very specific soil conditions to out-compete other plants. If you get lost in the home range of this plant, the berries are an easy safe food source if you come across them.

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