Indicator Plants

• Trailing evergreen shrub
• Common to exposed, dry slopes and dry forests
• Has a circumboreal distribution and is found at all elevations in our region

• Form: Sometimes mat-forming with flexibly rooting branches, usually not more than 20 cm tall, new stems brownish-red especially in the sun
• Leaves: Alternate (a single leaf is attached to the stem at a point and the leaves alternate upwards), leathery and stiff, oval-shaped with entire leaf margins (dark-green above and lighter beneath)
• Flowers: Pinkish white and small; a few borne in drooping terminal cluster
• Fruit: Relatively large, bright-red berries; edible but mealy and containing very large seed

• Hairy manzanita (Arctostaphylos columbiana): able to distinguish as it has hair-covered leaves
  • can hybridize with kinnikinnick to produce plant with intermediate phenotype
• Pinemat manzanita (Arctostaphylos nevadensis): able to distinguish as it has pointed leaves and brownish-red berries, and also is not found in our region

• The dried leaves of kinnikinnick were smoked by a number of coastal groups, likely just post-colonialism

E-Flora of BC - Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

Douglas, G.W. et al (Editors). 1998-2002. Illustrated Flora of British Columbia, Volumes 1 to 8. B.C. Min. Environ., Lands and Parks, and B.C. Min. For., Victoria, B.C.

Pojar, J. and A. MacKinnon. 2014. Plants of Coastal British Columbia Including Washington, Oregon & Alaska. B.C. Ministry of Forestry and Lone Pine Publishing. Vancouver, B.C.