Arctostaphylos mucronifera A. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 7: 585.  1839.  Comarostaphylis mucronifera (A. P. de Candolle) Klotzsch, Linnaea 24: 76.  1851.  Type.  Mexico:  Cordillera de Guachilaqua, Oct 1827 (im fr), Berlandier 1188 (holotype: G-DC, photos, Fernald neg. 9285 & F neg. 33847;  isotypes, BM, G(2), L, LE, P(2), photo of P, Diggs neg. 42).

Arctostaphylos attenuata (Klotzsch) Hemsley var. brachymischa Loesener, Bull.  Herb. Boissier II, 3: 220.  1903.  Type.  Mexico.  Oaxaca:  Distr. Etla, nr. Las Sedas, 27 Nov 1895, Seler 1505 (lectotype, designated by Diggs (1995): GH, photo, Diggs neg. 18).

Arbutus coccinia Sessé & Mociño, Flora mexicana (ed. 1) 122.  1894[?].  Type.   Mexico, Temascaltepec, [?] Sesse et al. 1250.  The type description indicates only "montibus Temascaltepec" and does not cite a specific type.  A Sessé et al. specimen numbered 1250 and labeled as "Arbutus coccinea" exists at F.  However, since the existence of specimens at MA or elsewhere is unknown, lectotypification is deferred.  If edition two (Sessé & Mociño, 1894) has priority over edition one (Sessé & Mociño, 1891-1897) from p. 49 on (see McVaugh (1977), the correct citation for Arbutus coccinia (P. 122 of ed. 1) would be Flora mexicana (ed. 2) 112.  1894.

    Erect, evergreen or facultatively drought-deciduous shrubs to small trees to 1 m tall and 25 cm dbh, base to 32.3 cm diam.;  bark peeling or flaking, gray or brown to reddish-orange;  young twigs usually hirtellous, with stalked, swollen-headed, and glandular trichomes, eglandular trichomes also present.  Leaves not coriaceous or only slightly so, narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate or oblong, plane to slightly revolute, 3-9.5 x 0.6-3 cm, basally cuneate, apically obtuse to acute, sometimes mucronate, marginally entire or subentire, upper surface glabrous, glabrate, or with scattered trichomes, lower surface glabrous or with eglandular trichomes, usually glaucous;  midrib pubescent, trichomes glandular or not;  petioles 2-6.5 mm long, usually glandular hirtellous.  Inflorescences racemose or sometimes paniculate, 3.3-10.7 cm long;  rachis, pedicels, bracts, bracteoles, and calyx subglabrous to tomentose or hirsute, the trichomes usually stalked, swollen-headed, and glandular, or eglandular;  floral bracts broadly lanceolate to ovate, navicular or carinate, 1.6-4.5 x 1-2.4 mm, acute to acuminate, ciliate, trichomes glandular or not;  corollas 5-10 x 4-7.1 mm, glabrous, bright to deep red (rarely pink?), lobes 0.8-2 x 1.4-2.6 mm;  stamens 2.8-3.8 mm long;  filaments 2.6-3.6 mm long, villous (glabrous? fide type description);  anthers 1.3-1.7 x 0.7-1 mm, the spurs 0.3-0.8 mm long;  ovary glabrous or pubescent;  style 3.7-5.6 mm long, glabrous.  Fruit drupaceous, 5-7 mm in diam., red when immature, dark purple to black at maturity;  seeds 2-2.4 x 1-1.4 mm, surface reticulate.

    Distribution.  Endemic to Mexico, from Oaxaca extending north and west as far as San Luis Potosí, Jalisco, and Sinaloa, in rather dry Quercus-Pinus forests, at elevations of 1525-2600 m.