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Christmas berry, toyon

California holly, Christmas berry, toyon

Habit Shrubs or trees, canopies dense, 20–100 dm.
Stems

usually 1;

bark (trunk) grayish, with fine tan to dark gray striations, ± smooth; short shoots absent; unarmed;

young stems puberulent.

Leaves

persistent, cauline, simple;

stipules variably persistent, free, minute, margins unknown, apex gland-tipped;

petiole present;

blade ± elliptic to narrowly elliptic or narrowly oblong, 5–15(–20) cm, leathery, margins revolute, sharply, remotely serrate, venation pinnate (craspedodromous-brochidodromous), surfaces tomentose when young, glabrescent.

petiole 1–2 cm, tomentose;

blade margins cartilaginous, veins 10–20 per side.

Inflorescences

terminal, 20–150-flowered, panicles, ± dome-shaped, white-tomentose;

bracts present on proximal nodes, leaflike, plus numerous, scalelike appendages on axes;

bracteoles present caducous, delicate.

bracts persistent, 1–3;

appendages persistent, hard;

bracteoles subulate, 4–10 mm, chartaceous, margins ± revolute, teeth hard, gland-tipped, abaxial surfaces hairy.

Pedicels

present.

Flowers

perianth and androecium epigynous, 10 mm diam.;

hypanthium urceolate, 2–4 mm, glabrous or weakly floccose;

sepals 5, suberect, triangular;

petals 5, white, irregularly round, base weakly clawed;

stamens 10, shorter than petals;

carpels 2 or 3, distinct, basally adnate to hypanthium, styles 2 or 3, lateral, distinct;

ovules 2.

sepals 1–2 mm.

Fruits

pomes, usually bright red, sometimes yellow, ellipsoid, 5–10 mm, glabrous or glabrate;

flesh mealy;

hypanthium persistent;

sepals persistent, accrescent over hypanthial opening.

Pyrenes

2 or 3 per fruit, carpel walls thin, soft;

styles not persistent;

seeds 1 per pyrene, large.

brown, smooth.

Heteromeles

Heteromeles arbutifolia

Phenology Flowers Apr–Aug.
Habitat Chaparral, oak woodlands, mixed-evergreen forests
Elevation 0–1300 m (0–4300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA; nw Mexico
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; Mexico (Baja California)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 1.

Heteromeles resembles Aronia and Photinia; it differs by having 10 stamens instead of 20, nearly free carpels (versus fully connate), and fruit flesh lacking stone cells (versus often possessing some). Its fruit is of the coreless type (J. R. Rohrer et al. 1991). Molecular evidence (D. Potter et al. 2007) shows a relationship to the Asiatic Eriobotrya and Rhaphiolepis Lindley miniclade; fruit type, notched petals, and other characteristics agree.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Heteromeles arbutifolia is widely distributed in the Coast Ranges north to Humboldt County and in a more scattered manner in the Sierra Nevada to Shasta County. Plants are used for Christmas decoration in the flora area and are sometimes cultivated for ornament where the species prospers.

Two varieties have been named, var. cerina (= Photinia arbutifolia var. cerina), which represents yellow-fruited forms, and var. macrocarpa (= P. arbutifolia var. macrocarpa), with more floriferous inflorescences and larger fruits (8–10 mm). The first is a sporadic variant worthy only of forma status; the variety named by Munz is more substantial, seems usually to have shorter and relatively broader leaves with barely toothed, revolute margins, and is said to be most common on the Channel Islands of San Clemente and Santa Catalina. This variety seems to intergrade with var. arbutifolia, which represents the bulk of the species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 9, p. 447. Author: James B. Phipps. FNA vol. 9, p. 447.
Parent taxa Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae Rosaceae > subfam. Amygdaloideae > tribe Maleae > Heteromeles
Subordinate taxa
H. arbutifolia
Synonyms Photinia arbutifolia, H. arbutifolia var. cerina, H. arbutifolia var. macrocarpa, H. fremontiana, H. salicifolia, P. salicifolia
Name authority M. Roemer: Fam. Nat. Syn. Monogr. 3: 100, 105. (1847) (Lindley) M. Roemer: Fam. Nat. Syn. Monogr. 3: 105. (1847)
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