Ecology
The Mission Manzanita is found mixed southern chaparral ecosystems below 3500' elevation on dry, sunny slopes in a very limited range of coastal areas of southern California and northern Baja California.
Birds, including the California Thrasher and Scrub jay, eat seeds. Hummingbirds, especially the resident Anna's Hummingbird, drink nectar from flowers. Various birds nest in Mission Manzanita and many use it for cover.
While some chaparral plant species require fire to germinate seeds and reproduce, Xylococcus bicolor does not, nor does it require openings left by wildfires. But as a chaparral member species it must have a means of coping with wildfire. It does so by resprouting from the base after its top has burned away. This mechanism works very well unless a second fire follows closely after the first. If the plant has not had time to sufficiently regenerate it will probably perish.
- Ecology
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Bird's nest in Xylococcus bicolor near Escondido, CA
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One of the oldest specimens of mission manzanita known lives in this stand of old-growth mixed chaparral.
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Inside the ancient, old-growth Mission Manzanita (Xylococcus bicolor)
Read more about this topic: Xylococcus Bicolor
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