Please help identify the plant in the attached photos. I am hoping it is an Arbutus but I have some doubts due to the shape of the leaves. They don't exactly look like the ones on adult trees, but then again it may be normal for small seedlings. Thank you in all in advance for your help.
Thank you so much, woodschmoe, I appreciate your quick response! So glad I signed up for this forum. I am new to BC (from ON) and I am very excited about all the 'tropical' plants that grow here and stay green throughout the year.
It is an Arbutus, but it's not Arbutus menziesii, that has broader leaves with a more rounded base, and a smooth (not serrated) margin (compare here). Yours looks more like one of the Mediterranean Arbutus, with its narrower leaves with serrated margins. The most likely one is the popular hybrid cultivar Arbutus 'Marina' (compare here), though others are possible.
Open habit, bark color and leaf orientation, bluish leaf undersides fit madrona. Yes, younger specimens sometimes produce more prominently toothed leaves.
