Manzanita Tree

[Edgy01]

The other day up in the hills of California, as the morning fog still held onto an influence over the lighting...

Dan

[John Geerts]

Beautiful.  That is a very special tree, not?

[Frank Fremerey]

Looks alien to me. Like grewn from a sperm that came from
outer space where possibly most of life on earth came from

[Jakov Minić]

What an amazing tree. The texture is like from the movie Avatar

[elsa hoffmann]

How hard is the wood from this tree?

[Edgy01]

How hard is the wood from this tree?

Manzanita wood is extremely dense and hard.  It can bog down a dull chain saw.  You can't cut it without power equipment.  It's related to a tree from the NW USA--madrone. 

It has a very nice bark--the red seen here.

Dan

[elsa hoffmann]

It is extremely beautiful - thanks for sharing

[Airy]

interesting - no bark, or very shiny bark ? an unusual look.

[Edgy01]

Not really a shiny bark--enhanced here by heavy fog/mist that was keeping the trunks quite wet.  It is now a protected tree in California. 

This other shot demonstrates how lighting is fleeting--the same scene (roughly) but literally seconds apart as the sky opened up and the sun shined down onto the brush.

Dan

P.S.  Shot with my 4S--iPhone, that is!

[Bill De Jager]

Lovely capture.  Wet manzanita bark is one of the most beautiful things one can run into in California.

It is now a protected tree in California. 

There are 62 species of manzanita (Arctostaphylos spp.) in California, more than anywhere else in the world.  They range in size from prostrate ground covers up to large shrubs/small trees.  The botanically inclined from elsewhere in the northern hemisphere are probably aware of Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, the one manzanita species that gets very far from California.  A few rare species of manzanita may be protected by law but most are not.