Heteromeles arbutifolia

Identification

Description

Toyon, or as it's sometimes called, Christmas Berry, is an evergreen shrub to small tree that usually grows to 6-8 ft. high and 4-5 ft. wide. Toyon can go to 15-20' tall if it's old and happy and become a delightful evergreen multi-stemmed tree with white flowers in summer and red berries in winter. Toyon is native to much of California and is drought tolerant after the first few years, but tolerates some water if drainage is good. Fire resistant if watered a little every two weeks during spring and summer. Toyon likes full sun, tolerates full shade. Tolerates serpentine based adobe soils, but also lives in beach sand. The berries are kinda edible but awful and contain cyanide compounds that can kill you if you eat a few pounds. Better for the birds. I had one student make a cherry pie out of them that wasn't bad. (The same cyanide compounds volatize off and leave the cherry flavor when cooked.) Good screen or specimen plant. Deer will eat this on bad years if it's been watered at all. If you protect it for 3-4 years and get it well established they don't hurt it very much (they eat the new growth and leaves below four feet). I find it fascinating that it is not reliably hardy at the Santa Margarita nursery site but on the south slopes on a narrow line half way up. We do not find it in most of the creek (where it is in many other plant communities) or on north slopes. It is hardy to about 0 F., at -5 F. it can(not always though...) grow back from the crown. It is native in beach sand 1/2 mile from the ocean and it grows into the middle Sierras. It has some problems with leaf fungus and bacteria near the coast(needs good air flow), and can be overcome by SOD if you're in that area and the plants are summer watered. Grows with Quercus agrifolia, Quercus lobata and Quercus douglasii. A nice plant in many areas. Great hedge plant if mixed with Coffeeberry, Manzanita and Ceanothus.