Desert, semi-desert. Woodlands, shrublands. Spring.
Upper Mule Canyon, Utah, April 8, 2005.

Manzanita is lovely year-round: It is often evergreen in winter snows and its gray and rich brown-red bark are distinctive and beautiful all year.  In the spring, drooping clusters of flowers often engulf the bush in pink and white.  The late summer green, white, or brown berries attract a wide variety of animals including bears for whom the genus, "arcto", is named. Manzanita can vegetatively spread over very large areas forming dense thickets, especially under Ponderosa Pines. 

Desert, semi-desert. Canyons, woodlands. Spring.
Upper Mule Canyon, Utah, April 8, 2005.

The nearly vertical position of the leaves, their thick, leathery texture, the reddish-brown bark splitting with age and showing gray, and the innumerable clusters of drooping flowers are all hallmarks of Arctostaphylos.

Desert, semi-desert. Canyons, woodlands. Spring.
Upper Mule Canyon, Utah, October 23, 2006.