Toyon, Christmas Berry, California Christmas Berry, California Holly, Hollywood

Native to the Sierra Nevada foothills and Southern California, the cheerful Toyon rarely extends its roots beyond the state borders, earning its name the “California Holly.” Legend has it that this plant brings good luck, success, and prosperity. Perhaps this superstitious belief, strengthened by the shrub’s omnipresence along the foothills of Santa Monica Mountains, influenced Daeida and Harvey Wilcox in naming the future home of the movie industry 'Hollywood.' This naming choice proved to be auspicious, and centuries of success cemented the perceived 'good-luck' attributes associated with Holly.

Hardy and undemanding, the Christmas Berry plant thrives amongst tangled and thorny bushes on moist slopes, decorating the chaparral with snowy white flowers in June and July, followed by clusters of bright red berries from November to January. This vigorous evergreen can grow to be a ten-foot-tall and five-foot-wide shrub, or grow into a towering twenty-foot tree. Decorative all year round for its dense emerald-green foliage, H. arbutifolia makes impenetrable, visually striking screen, but it also provides valuable erosion control when planted on banks and slopes.

Given Toyon's significance in the Los Angeles landscape and its crucial role in hillside erosion management and providing habitat for native species, the City of Los Angeles included Toyon in its Protected Tree and Shrub Regulations (Ordinance 186873).

Height: 6 to 8 feet
Width: 4 to 5 feet
Spacing: 4 to 5 feet

Soil: clay, loam, sand, well-drained
pH: acid, alkaline, neutral
Exposure: full to partial sun

Water: low, average
Tolerance: drought tolerant
Toxicity: ingested berries are toxic to humans; whole plant is toxic to horses

Wildlife: attracts birds and butterflies

Anonymous. (n.d.). Heteromeles arbutifolia (Toyon). Gardenia. https://www.gardenia.net/plant/heteromeles-arbutifolia

Anonymous. (n.d.). Hollywood, Los Angeles: History, Initial Development. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Los_Angeles

Anonymous. (n.d.). New Protected Tree and Shrub Regulations (Ordinance 186873). Los Angeles City Planning. https://planning.lacity.gov/odocument/555281f6-f5ef-44e9-b094-1fce25c1c4dc

Anonymous. (1996). Western Garden Book. [Page 321]. Sunset Publishing Corporation, Menlo Park, California.

Bryant, P. J., & Avise, J. (2009, July 4). Toyon. [Article appearing in Eudicots of Orange County, California.] School of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine. https://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/plants/Rosaceae/Heteromeles%20arbutifolia.htm

Roem, M. (n.d.). Heteromeles arbutifolia (Lindl.) Calflora. https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=4140