Description
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, known as kinnikinnick or bear berry, is a slow-growing evergreen shrub with a prostrate habit that makes an excellent native ground cover and slope stabilizer from sun to part shade. It features reddish-gray, peeling bark and small, lustrous, dark green leaves that turn burgundy in the winter. The urn-shaped white to pinkish flowers are visited by bees and are followed by showy orange-red berries that are eaten by wildlife and were also used by First Nations peoples. Plants are also a larval host for various species of butterflies and moths. In dry, hot habitats kinnikinnick will have an open habit. With better soils and more moisture it will form a dense, weed-suppressing mat.
