Several low-lying, distinctive dark-green clumps of the rare, protected Ione manzanita, Arctostaphylos myrtifolia observed near the famous Lygodium Gulch fossil leaf locality in the Middle Eocene Ione Formation. The Ione manzanita grows nowhere else on Earth in the wild, save on the extraordinarily harsh, acidic soils weathered from the Eocene Ione Formation within the unique Ione Chaparral botanic association, Ione Basin, Amador County, California. Clump at lower right, with the foot-long geology rock hammer for scale, is the specimen of Ione manzanita seen in the previous photograph. Image snapped on October 14, 2002.

Please note: All fossil localities in the Ione Formation of Amador County, California, presently occur on private property; explicit permission from the land owners must be secured before collecting fossils there.