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Madrona

The Arbutus Menziesii is commonly known as Madrona, Madrone, Madrono, as well as Pacific Madrone

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Growing Regions

Pacific madrone occupies coastal lowlands from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, southward to the Coast Ranges of southern California and occurs in isolated groves as far south as Mexico [16,37,44,52].  Pacific madrone is particularly common west of the Cascades in Washington and Oregon [2].  Along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, Pacific madrone has a scattered distribution, extending southward to central California [16,37].

     

General Information

The currently accepted scientific name of Pacific madrone is Arbutus menziesii Pursh. There are no recognized varieties or forms [32,44]. Of the three North American species belonging to the Arbutus genus, Pacific madrone is the only member distributed along the West Coast [2,16].

Pacific madrone is a seral component of a number of forested, woodland,
and chaparral communities [9,18,54].  Within mixed-evergreen forests,
madrone often codominates the hardwood subcanopy with canyon live oak
(Quercus chrysolepis) [49,54].

Published classifications listing Pacific madrone as a dominant part of
the vegetation in community types or plant associations are presented
below.

Area                    Classification         Authority

OR, WA                  gen veg cts            Franklin & Dyrness 1973

OR: Umpqua River Basin  gen veg pas            Smith 1985

s. CA                   gen veg pas            Paysen & others 1980

Much of the information presented here is attributed to:
McMurray, Nancy E. 1989. Arbutus menziesii. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online]. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available at USDA Forest Service.

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