Arbutus xalapensis Kunth in Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. gen. sp. 3: 219. 1819,  non Arbutus xalapensis sensu W. J. Hooker, Ic. pl. 1: t. 27, 1836 (Comarostaphylis? sp.).  Type.  Mexico.  Veracruz:  Near Xalapa, 1260 m, Feb 1804 (fl),  Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. (lectotype:  designated by Sørensen, 1995, P;  Microfiche, IDC 6209, fiche no. 78). Arbutus xalapensis Kunth var. pubescens Bentham, Pl. hartw. 66. 1840.  Type.  Mexico.  Oaxaca:  Mountains near Carmen [Hidalgo del Carmen, NE of Oaxaca], Hartweg 485 (holotype:  K;  isotype:  NY).
    Arbutus mollis Kunth, in Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. gen. sp. 3: 219.  1819. Type.  Mexico.  Guanajuato:  Near Guanajuato, Sep 1893, Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. (lectotype:  designated by Sørensen, 1995, the description in Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. gen. sp. 3: 219. 1819).
    Arbutus petiolaris Kunth in Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. gen. sp. 3: 22. 1819.  Arbutus densiflora Kunth var.  petiolaris (Kunth) Loesener, Bull. Herb. Boissier sér. II, 3: 219. 1903.  Type.  Mexico.  Morelos(?): Western slopes of mountains between Cuernavaca and Guchilaque, 1830 m, April 1803, Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. (lectotype: designated by Sørensen, 1995, P;  Microfiche, IDC 6209, fiche no. 79).
    Arbutus densiflora Kunth in Humboldt, Bonpland & Kunth, Nov. gen. sp. 3: 220, tab. 260.  1819.  Type.  Mexico.  Veracruz: E-facing mountain slopes between La Pileta and Xalapa, 1350 m, Feb 1804 (fl), Humboldt & Bonpland s.n. (lectotype: designated by Sørensen, 1995, P;  Microfiche, IDC 6209, fiche no. 78).
    Arbutus varians Bentham, Pl. hartw. 77.  1841.  Type.  Guatemala.  Mountains near Quetzaltenango, 1841 (fl), Hartweg 542 (lectotype:  designated by Sørensen, 1995, K;  isolectotype:  NY).
    Arbutus glandulosa Martens & Galeotti, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles  9: 533. 1842.  Type.  Mexico.  Oaxaca:  Mountains of Ejutla [ca. 106 km S of Oaxaca], ca. 2300 m, Nov-Apr 1840 (fl), Galeotti 1832 (lectotype:  designated by Sørensen, 1995, BR;  isolectotype:  BR).
    Arbutus floribunda Martens & Galeotti, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles  9: 534. 1842.  Type.  Mexico.  Oaxaca:  "Pelado de Capulalpan (cordilère orientale d'Oaxaca)", 2200-2600 m, Nov 1839, Galeotti 1822 (lectotype:  designated by Sørensen, 1995, BR).
    Arbutus macrophylla Martens & Galeotti, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles  9: 529. 1842.  Type.  Mexico.  Oaxaca:  Mountains S of Sola [presumably Sola de Vega, ca. 120 km SSW of Oaxaca], 2400 m, Nov 1840, Galeotti 1824 (lectotype:  designated by Sørensen, 1995, BR;  isolectotype:  BR).
    Arbutus laurina Martens & Galeotti, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles 9: 535. 1842.  Type.  Mexico.  Oaxaca:  NE of Oaxaca, mining district of Yavezía, ca. 2200 m, Nov 1839, Galeotti 1825 (lectotype:  designated by Sørensen, 1995, BR;  isolectotype: BR).
    Arbutus paniculata Martens & Galeotti, Bull. Acad. Roy. Sci. Bruxelles  9: 535. 1842.  Type.  Mexico.  Oaxaca:  Mining district of Yavezía, NE of Oaxaca, ca. 2200 m, Nov 1839, Galeotti 1825 bis (lectotype:  designated by Sørensen, 1995, BR).
    Arbutus texana S. B. Buckley, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1861: 460. 1862.  Arbutus xalapensis Kunth var. texana (S. B. Buckley) A. Gray, Syn. fl. N. Amer. ed. 2, 2(1): 397.  1886.  Type.  U.S.A.  Texas:  Hays County:  Hills [W of Austin], Buckley s.n. (lectotype:  designated by Sørensen, 1995, P).  See text for further details concerning the type material.
    Arbutus peninsularis Rose & Goldman in Rose, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 13: 312. 1911.  Type.  Mexico.  Baja California [Sur]:  El Sauz to La Chuparosa, Sierra de la Laguna, ca. 1500 m, 23 Jan 1906 (fl), Nelson & Goldman 7453 (holotype:  US, photo NY neg. C207).
    Arbutus donnell-smithii Small, N. Amer. Fl. 29: 85.  1914.  Type.  Guatemala. Zacatepequez:  San Lucas, 1678 m, Apr 1890, Donnell Smith 2190 (holotype:  NY;  isotypes:  US [2 sheets]).


         Trees or arborescent shrubs, 4-6 m, often up to 15 m (occasionally said to be taller);  bark usually brick red and peeling in large, smooth flakes over most of the larger limbs, ceasing to exfoliate at the base of the trunk on older specimens and eventually retained over most of the oldest parts of the plant, becoming gray, irregularly roughened;  twigs of newly emerging shoots usually densely villous, often with a mixture of glandular hairs, fully developed twigs pubescent and/or glandular pubescent, or glabrate to completely glabrous, twig bark soon loosening and exfoliating, older twigs usually smooth, brick-red, or glaucous grayish-red.  Leaves pale or bright olive-green or glaucous-green, slightly lighter beneath, blades elliptic or slightly ovate-elliptic, (4-)5-11(-15) x 1.5-4.8(-6) cm, basally tapered, rounded, sub-truncate, or slightly cordate, apically acute or obtuse, the margins smooth or irregularly toothed, rarely slightly spinulose, upper surface glossy-glabrous (when fresh) or pubescent, often densely so toward base of blade and especially along the midrib, lower surface glabrous or more often pubescent, frequently white, tan, or brown woolly, sometimes with a few glandular hairs;  petiole 1/4-1/3(-1/2) the length of the blade, vestiture about the same as on the blade, but glandular hairs more dense if present, these straight or curly, drying stiff, up to 1.5 mm long.  Inflorescence a terminal cluster of racemes, very variable, from densely clustered or openly-branched, to few-flowered, often showy, axes including pedicels usually with glandular hairs, these sometimes copious and conspicuous. Flowers borne obliquely erect on accrescent pedicels 6-9(-14) mm long, subtended by a reddish or tan-colored accrescent bract 2-3.5 mm long, to 4.9 mm long in fruit, enclosing 2 smaller bracteoles;  calyx 1.8-3 mm long (northern material with a blush of pink), the lobes often dorsally pubescent, margins scarious and ciliate or glandular-ciliate;  corolla 5.1-6(-7.2) mm long, the larger on rapidly developing, more open and elongated inflorescences, inner surface of tube smooth or sparsely pubescent below the middle;  filaments 2.1-3 mm long;  anthers about 1.5 mm long, spurs (1/2-)3/4-4/5 the length of the thecae;  ovary with up to 10 ovules per locule.  Fruit more or less spherical, or slightly turbinate, 7.5-8.8(-9) mm diam. when ripe;  seeds 4 or 5 per locule, 1.8-2.5 mm long; chromosome number: 2n=26 (Callan, 1941).
     

         Distribution.  Southern New Mexico and W Texas, U.S.A., south in mountainous topography through all the states of Mexico (except Campeche, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Yucatán), into Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, at elevations of (325-)2000-3000(-3400) m, at highest elevation in the Sierra Volcánica Transversal crossing southern Mexico.  Flowering in Central America and southeastern Mexico November to mid-February, progressively later into April and May in the northernmost localities, rarely during mid-year;  fruiting follows after about six weeks.

         Local names:  Throughout its range Arbutus xalapensis is called madrone (English), madroño (Spanish), less frequently madroña (Spanish), or simply madrón (Spanish).  Additional vernacular names:  encino roble,  flora de pulca, guayavillo, indio desnudo,  kurúvasi or korúvasi,  madroño colorado,  nuzu-ndu, pách-sich-ách-mixe, urúbasi, and ya-hatzii.

        Cultivated:  E, MO.