menziesii – refers to Scottish naval surgeon and botanist Archibald Menzies (1754–1842), who served on the Vancouver Expedition to the PNW

Native range: British Columbia to California

Leaves:

• alternate
• simple
• ovate-oblong to elliptic
• ~6” long, 3” wide
• young – serrate
• older – entire
• upper – dark green
• lower – whitish
• no hairs

Flowers:

• inflorescence - panicles, <4” long
• white corolla
• urn-shaped flowers
• 5-lobed calyx
• 10 stamens

Fruit:

• red warty drupe
• purple-blue when overripe
• 1 cm and covered with small projections (smaller than A. unedo)

Other characteristics:

• evergreen tree to 30 m. (90 ft.)
• bark reddish brown & peeling

Relevant info:

• fungal disease affecting many plants
• called madrono (Spanish for ‘strawberry tree’) by Father Juan Crespi, chronicler of the overland Portola expedition of 1769 to find the ‘lost bay’ of Monterey
  • he named it for its resemblance to Mediterranean strawberry tree (A. unedo)

Ecology & Adaptations:

• native to SW coastal British Columbia south to California
• in Washington, west of the Cascades
• found on dry, sunny, often rocky sites (such as bluffs), frequently with coarse-textured soils
• low to middle elevations (915 m.)
• typically associated with Douglas-fir and Garry oak
• pollination – bees are attracted to nectaries at the base of the corolla
• seed dispersal – fruits attract birds (such as mourning dove and band-tailed pigeon), mule deer, and rodents, which aid in dispersal
• vegetative regeneration:
  • at base of stem is woody, globe-shaped, underground regenerative organ known as a burl (short branchlets fused into a mass of wood with dormant buds that can sprout when the main trunk is injured or destroyed)
  • this ability contributes to fire and disease resilience.
• drought tolerance:
  • thick, leathery, evergreen leaves prevent water loss
  • long-lived leaves conserve resources in nutrient-poor environments
• adapted to low-nutrient & droughty conditions:
  • massive, wide-spreading root system is associated with mycorrhizae that aid absorption of water and nutrients
  • evergreen leaves help conserve nutrient resources
• wind & drought tolerance – large root system contributes to tolerance of onshore winds and drought
• succession:
  • low resistance to fire due to thin bark that provides little insulation from radiant heat, which usually kills the cambium
  • however, species depends on periodic fire to eliminate or greatly reduce the [shade of] conifer overstory
  • species is usually absent from understory of mixed-evergreen forest in PNW due to shade intolerance
  • seeds remain dormant and viable for >20 yrs in the soil
  • germination is most successful in light (i.e., open rather than shaded conditions)
• wildlife:
  • leaves provide winter forage for Sitka black-tailed deer
  • berries are important food for deer, birds (such as dark-eyed junco, fox sparrow, varied thrush, band-tailed pigeon), and other small mammals because they are produced in large quantities and may persist on the tree in winter, when alternative food sources are limited