Greenleaf manzanita

This is such a pretty shrub, so bright green with rusty-red stems. Old branches still twist from the base of the sprawling plant, bleached silver. Dainty bite marks on the lower leaves suggest rabbits or pikas. Many short pink chains of buds hang on the branch tips, waiting for warmer days.

This manzanita grows all around Lava Butte in Deschutes National Forest, on steep, rocky ground and beneath pines.

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 24th, 2005 at 10:42 pmand is filed under Plant Of The Day. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.