Single Record

Participant Info

Species
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi [Arbutus uva-ursi] [Daphnidostilis fendleriana]
Family
Ericaceae
CommonName
bearberry, kinnikinnick
Presence
YES
Status
native
EarliestDate
1914
LatestDate
2020
Ecosystem
montane, subalpine
Geobotanical
SSawatch, Garitas, SSanjuans, NCristos
Counties
Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache
Passes
Cochetopa, La Veta, South, Wolf Creek
WildlifePreserves
Other Localities
Comments
Kinnikinnick (from the Unami Delaware language) is a ubiquitous understory plant of conifer forests all around the Watershed—mesophytic, sometimes trailing down rock faces, sometimes found in open meadows. There is only one collection of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi from the Culebras: west of Trinchera Peak, Costilla Co, 2022 (an iNaturalist photorecords). Probably the species is more wide spreading in the Culebras, judging from New Mexico records. In the USA, bearberry is the most wide spread of the Manzanita genus, found in all regions except for the Great Plains and the Deep South. Incidentally the binomial is redundant: arcto = bear; staphylos = bunch of grapes; uva = grape; ursi = of bears. Or in English, bearberry bearberry.