Prunus ilicifolia

Prunus ilicifolia (Common names: hollyleaf cherry,[3] evergreen cherry;[4] islay - Salinan Native American[5]) is native to the chaparral areas of coastal California (from Mendocino County to San Diego County), Baja California, and Baja California Sur.[4][6] as well as the desert chaparral areas of the Mojave desert.[7][8] Despite its name, it is not a true cherry (P. subg. Cerasus) species. It is traditionally included in P. subg. Laurocerasus, but molecular research indicates it is nested with species of P. subg. Padus.[9]

Prunus ilicifolia
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Rosaceae
Genus: Prunus
Species:
P. ilicifolia
Binomial name
Prunus ilicifolia
Natural range of Prunus ilicifolia (var. ilicifolia green; var. occidentalis blue)
Synonyms[1][2]
  • Cerasus ilicifolia Nutt. ex Hook. & Arn.
  • Laurocerasus ilicifolia (Nutt. ex Hook. & Arn.) M.Roem.
  • Lauro-cerasus ilicifolia (Nutt. ex Hook. & Arn.) M.Roem.
  • Prunus lyonii (Eastw.) Sarg.

Prunus ilicifolia is an evergreen shrub[3] to tree, producing edible cherries, with shiny and spiny toothed leaves[3] similar in appearance to those of holly. This resemblance is the source of both the common name "holly-leaved cherry" and the scientific epithet "ilicifolia" (Ilex-leaved). It grows 8 to 30 feet (240–900 cm) tall, with thick, alternate leaves 1 to 2 inches (2.5-5.0 cm) in length.[3] It has small white flowers growing in clusters, similar in appearance to most members of the rose family, Rosaceae, flowering from March to May.[3] The flowers are terminal on small stalks, with the youngest at the cluster center. The purple to black fruit is sweet, with a very thin pulp around a large single stone (drupe).[3][10]

The plant is prized for cultivation, showy and easily grown from seed, and has been cultivated for centuries as a food source, and tolerates twice yearly pruning when often used as a hedge.[3] The plant likes full sun, loose open soil (porous), and tolerates drought conditions well, but needs regular watering when young.[3] Bees are attracted to it.[3]

"Prunus" comes from the old Latin for "plum". "Ilici - folia means "holly like - leaves".[3] This is the only species of the genus Prunus native to the Santa Monica Mountains that divide the Los Angeles basin from the San Fernando Valley, California.[3]

Description
Prunus ilicifolia flowers

It is an evergreen shrub[3] or small tree approaching 15 meters (50 feet) in height,[11] with dense, hard leaves[3] (sclerophyllous foliage). The leaves are 1.6–12 cm (0.64-4.8 inches) long with a 4–25 mm (0.16-1.00 inch) petiole[11] and spiny margins, somewhat resembling those of the holly. The leaves are dark green when mature and generally shiny on top, and have a smell resembling almonds when crushed; these are poisonous to eat, but not to handle.[12] The flowers are small (1–5 mm), white, produced on racemes in the spring. The fruit is a cherry 12–25 mm diameter, edible[3] and sweet, but contains little flesh surrounding the smooth seed.[11][13][14]

Subspecies

There are two subspecies:[15][16][17]

Distribution, habitat, and ecology

Prunus ilicifolia is native to California chaparral and foothill woodlands along the Coast Ranges below 1,600 m.[11] Its distribution extends from northern Baja California along the California coast to the northernmost extent of the Coast Ranges,[11] as well as into the desert chaparral areas of the Mojave desert. In chaparral communities, it tends to inhabit north-facing slopes, erosion channels, or other moist, cool sites.[4]

It is a persistent member of chaparral communities, being slow-growing but long-lived; common chaparral flora associates are toyon, western poison-oak and coffeeberry.[18] In the absence of fire, P. ilicifolia will outlive or outshade surrounding vegetation, making room for seedlings. Eventually, it will form extensive stands codominated by scrub oak.[4]

Regeneration and seedlings

Although it will resprout from the stump after fires, the seeds are not fire-adapted like those of many other chaparral plants.[19] Instead, it relies on the natural death of surrounding vegetation during long periods of fire-free conditions to make room for its seedlings.[4]

The seeds are also reported to require sunlight to germinate.[19] However, near 100% germination rates have been achieved with wild-collected seed buried completely in pots with a peatlite mix.[20]

Butterflies

The caterpillars of the pale swallowtail (Papilio eurymedon) feed on this and other members of the riparian woodland plant community.[17] It is also a larval host to the California hairstreak, Lorquin's admiral, Nevada buckmoth, and tiger swallowtail.[21]

Cultivation

Prunus ilicifolia is used in California native plants and wildlife gardens, and drought-tolerant sustainable landscaping.

Uses

Native Americans fermented the fruit into an intoxicating drink.[3] Some also cracked the dried cherries and made meal from the seeds after grinding and leaching them.[22] It has also been made into jam.[23]

References
  1. The Plant List, Cerasus ilicifolia Nutt. ex Hook. & Arn
  2. Tropicos, Prunus ilicifolia (Nutt. ex Hook. & Arn.) D. Dietr.
  3. Flowering Plants of the Santa Monica Mountains, Coastal & Chaparral Regions of Southern California, Nancy Dale, 1985, p172
  4. Fire Effects Information Service, USDA Forest Service: Prunus ilicifolia
  5. E.G. Gudde (1946). The Solution of the Islay Problem. California Folklore Quarterly 5 (3): 298-299 (Gudde concludes that the word "islay" originated in a Salinan word slay; Islay was the Spanish version of their word).
  6. "Prunus ilicifolia". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  7. Calflora taxon report, University of California, Prunus ilicifolia (Nutt.) Walp., Holly leaved Cherry, holly leaf cherry, hollyleaf cherry
  8. SEINet, Southwestern Biodiversity, Arizona chapter photos and distribution map
  9. Wen, Jun; Berggren, Scott T.; Lee, Chung-Hee; Ickert-Bond, Stefanie; Yi, Ting-Shuang; Yoo, Ki-Oug; Xie, Lei; Shaw, Joey; Potter, Dan (2008-04-25). "Phylogenetic inferences in Prunus (Rosaceae) using chloroplast ndhF and nuclear ribosomal ITS sequences". Journal of Systematics and Evolution. 46 (3): 322–332. doi:10.3724/SP.J.1002.2008.08065. ISSN 1674-4918.
  10. Jan Timbrook (December 1982). "Use of Wild Cherry Pits as Food by the California Indians" (PDF). Journal of Ethnobiology. Santa Barbara, California. 2 (2): 163. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
  11. Jepson Flora: Prunus ilicifolia
  12. Peattie, Donald Culross (1953). A Natural History of Western Trees. New York: Bonanza Books. p. 543.
  13. Munz, Philip A. 1973. A California flora and supplement. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
  14. Conrad, C. E. (1987). Common shrubs of chaparral and associated ecosystems of southern California. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-99. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station.
  15. Jepson Flora: Prunus ilicifolia subsp. ilicifolia
  16. Jepson Flora: Prunus ilicifolia subsp. lyonii
  17. Schoenherr, A. A. (1993). A Natural History of California. University of California Press, Berkeley.
  18. Hogan, C. Michael (2008) Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), GlobalTwitcher, ed. N. Stromberg "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-07-19. Retrieved 2009-08-19.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. Keeley, Jon E. 1987. Role of fire in seed germination of woody taxa in California chaparral. Ecology 68(2): 434-443; cited in FEIS
  20. Mirov, N. T., & Kraebel, C. J. (1937). Collecting and propagating the seeds of California wild plants. Research Note 18: 1-27. Berkeley, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, California Forest and Range Experiment Station
  21. The Xerces Society (2016), Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects, Timber Press.
  22. Whitney, Stephen (1985). Western Forests (The Audubon Society Nature Guides). New York: Knopf. p. 417. ISBN 0-394-73127-1.
  23. Peattie, Donald Culross (1953). A Natural History of Western Trees. New York: Bonanza Books. p. 544.
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