Sandmat Manzanita, Dune Manzanita                ark-tow-STAF-i-los PU-mil-a

• Broadleaf evergreen shrub or ground cover, sprawling habit, forms a mat or mound to about 3 ft (0.9 m) high but can grow to nearly 5 ft (1.5 m).  Bark reddish and twigs have a fine, gray pubescence.  Leaves simple, alternate, spreading, narrow-obovate to oblanceolate, 1–2 cm long and 0.5–1.5 cm wide, base wedge-shaped, tip often obtuse, margin entire, cupped or slightly rolled, surfaces not alike, upper surface convex, dark green, sometimes shiny, sparse pubescence but becoming hairless (glabrous), lower surface covered with a fine, gray pubescence.  Flowers white to pinkish in small, sparse clusters.  Fruit 0.5 cm wide, more or less spherical, brownish, becoming glabrous.
• Sun (coastal) or light shade (inland), little or no without summer water.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 9    Native range limited to the central California Coast, around Monterey Bay.
• pumila: dwarf