Christmas-Berry. Californian Holly. Toyon
Heteromeles Arbutifolia, Rœmer. Rose Family
Shrubs four to twenty-five feet high. Leaves.—Alternate; short-petioled; oblong; serrate; leathery; two to four inches long. Flowers.—Small; white; four lines across; in dense terminal panicles. Calyx.—Five-toothed. Petals.—Five; roundish; spreading. Stamens.—Ten; on the calyx. Filaments awl-shaped; flat. Ovaries.—Two; one-celled. Styles slender. Berries.—Red; four lines in diameter; in large clusters. Hab.—Coast Ranges, from San Diego to Mendocino County.
Christmas could hardly be celebrated among us without our beautiful Californian holly. Florists’ windows and the baskets of street-venders at that season are gay with the magnificent clusters of rich cardinal berries, which are really ripe by Thanksgiving. The common name, “Californian holly,” refers more to the berries than to the leaves, as the latter have not the form of holly-leaves. We have often seen the venders mix the berries with the prickly foliage of the live-oak, to make them seem more like holly.
The large clusters of spicy white flowers appear in July and August. Nothing in all our flora yields a finer contrast of lavish scarlet against rich green. The berries have a rather pleasant taste, somewhat acid and astringent, and are eaten by the Indians with great relish. The Spanish-Californians used them in the preparation of an agreeable drink.
This is a very handsome shrub in cultivation.