Arctostaphylos pungens
species of plant

Arctostaphylos pungens, with the common name pointleaf manzanita, is a species of manzanita. It is native to the Southwestern United States and to northern and central Mexico, where it grows in chaparral and woodland habitats, and on desert ridges. Arctostaphylos pungens can be seen growing at Tent Rocks National Monument in New Mexico at an elevation of about 6000 feet.
Description
Arctostaphylos pungens is an erect, spreading, evergreen shrub growing to heights between one and three meters. It has smooth red bark. Its smaller twigs and new leaves are lightly woolly. Mature leaves are leathery, shiny and green, oval to widely lance-shaped, and up to 4 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a spherical cluster of urn-shaped manzanita flowers. The fruit is a drupe 5 to 8 millimeters wide.
It is a food source for many kinds of wildlife, and it is harvested by people and made into jam in many parts of Mexico.
The public source identifies “Arctostaphylos pungens” as species of plant. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Arctostaphylos, pungens and species.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 27, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q625137. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Arctostaphylos pungens” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.