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iNaturalist — CC, credited & licensed per image
Pictured: Arctostaphylos hookeri — the species. This subspecies isn’t separately illustrated.
Ericaceae family

Franciscan Manzanita (subsp. franciscana) Arctostaphylos hookeri subsp. franciscana subspecies

Native Specialist-bee host

Franciscan Manzanita (subsp. franciscana) is a perennial shrub native to the lower 48 states. A host for pollen-specialist native bees.

More about this plant

Arctostaphylos franciscana, known by the common name Franciscan manzanita, is a species of manzanita. It was named by Alice Eastwood in 1905 who was the first to identify the organism as a unique species. It is native to the city of San Francisco and it is a low-growing, spreading-to-ascending evergreen shrub in the heath family Ericaceae. The name is derived from the Spanish word manzanita, which means “little apple” because of the small, apple shaped berries that grow from the plant. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 11 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Perennial
In the garden
Shrub layer — Sits in the shrub of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~17 caterpillar species

Arctostaphylos supports ~17 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a moderate genus.

Recorded feeding on Arctostaphylos in North America, including:

Acronicta perdita · owlet moth Aethaloida packardaria · geometer (inchworm) moth Amorbia cuneanum · leafroller moth Amphipyra pyramidoides · Copper Underwing Anacamptodes clivinaria · Mountain Mahogany Looper Anarta cordigera · owlet moth
+ 8 more species →
Ancylis comptana · leafroller moth Antaeotricha manzanitae · concealer moth Apharetra californiae · owlet moth Argyrotaenia franciscana · Orange Tortrix Aseptis ethnica · owlet moth Aseptis fumeola · owlet moth Aseptis perfumosa · owlet moth Automeris cecrops · Cecrops Eyed Silkmoth
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
✦ Bees specialist-bee host

Specialist native bees depend on it.

Some native bees are pollen specialists (oligolectic) — they raise young only on pollen from particular plant genera. Arctostaphylos is a recorded specialist-bee host, so losing it can mean losing the bee that relies on it.

Xerces pollinator conservation →
Specialist hosts from Smith et al. 2024.
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (11) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[07] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts · Smith et al. 2024 (CC BY)
[08] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[09] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[10] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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