Prunus ilicifolia (Common names: hollyleaf cherry, evergreen cherry; islay - Salinan Native American) is native to the chaparral areas of coastal California (from Mendocino County to San Diego County), Baja California, and Baja California Sur. as well as the desert chaparral areas of the Mojave Desert. Prunus ilicifolia is an evergreen shrub to tree, producing edible cherries, with shiny and spiny toothed leaves 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 2.4 to 9.1 metres (8 to 30 feet) tall, with thick, alternate leaves 2.5 to 5.1 centimetres (1 to 2 inches) in length. It has small white flowers growing in clusters, similar in appearance to most members of the rose family, Rosaceae, flowering from March to May. 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). 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. The plant likes full sun, loose open soil (porous), and tolerates drought conditions well, but needs regular watering when young. 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. Ilicifolia or "ilex foliage," means "holly-like leaves" in Latin
Description
It is an evergreen shrub or small tree approaching 15 metres (49 feet) in height, with dense, hard leaves (sclerophyllous foliage). The leaves are 1.6–12 centimetres (3⁄4–4+3⁄4 inches) long with a 4–25 millimetres (1⁄8–1 in) petiole 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. The flowers are small (1–5 mm), white, produced on racemes in the spring. The fruit is a cherry 12–25 mm in diameter, sweet in taste, with little flesh surrounding the smooth seed.
Subspecies There are two subspecies:
P. ilcifolia subsp. ilicifolia - mainland California and Baja California, red fruit 12–18 mm diameter, leaves dentate P. ilicifolia subsp. lyonii (Eastw.) Raven - Catalina cherry, Channel Islands of California (San Clemente, Santa Catalina, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Island islands), blue-black fruit 15–25 mm diameter, leaves entire
Distribution and habitat Prunus ilicifolia is native to California chaparral and foothill woodlands along the Coast Ranges below 1,600 m (5,200 ft). Its distribution extends from northern Baja California along the California coast to the northernmost extent of the Coast Ranges, 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. This is the only species of the genus Prunus native to California's Santa Monica Mountains, which divide the Los Angeles Basin from the San Fernando Valley. 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. 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.
Ecology
Although it will resprout from the stump after fires, the seeds are not fire-adapted like those of many other chaparral plants. Instead, it relies on the natural death of surrounding vegetation during long periods of fire-free conditions to make room for its seedlings. Though the seeds are often reported to require sunlight to germinate, germination rates of nearly 100% have been achieved with wild-collected seed buried completely in pots with a peatlite mix. The caterpillars of the pale swallowtail (Papilio eurymedon) feed on this and other members of the riparian woodland plant community. It is also a larval host to the California hairstreak, Lorquin's admiral, Nevada buckmoth, and western tiger swallowtail. Bees are attracted to it.
Cultivation Prunus ilicifolia is used in California native plants and wildlife gardens, and drought-tolerant sustainable landscaping.
Traditional harvest method The cherries were picked in late summer by Chumash people. The tree was not beaten with sticks or climbed, as they said it was very delicate; instead, cherries were picked individually from the tree along with those fallen to the ground. Green cherries would also be picked, but stored separately. To gather the cherries, Chumash people used net bags which were similarly employed to gather acorns and manzanita berries. The bags were hung over the chest by a woven strap which hung behind the neck or over the shoulder. Once filled, the bag was carried on the back with a tumpline. Gathered cherries would be emptied from their bags into larger, closely woven sacks with drawstrings which would be used to transport them further; often, the cherries would often be cleaned of their pulp near the gathering site, leaving the kernels to be transported alone for further processing. The net bags were made using cordage which would be woven into meshes just fine enough to prevent the cherries from falling through and the resulting net bag's mouth would be kept open by a hoop made of willow or sumac wood. The nets were often made using a popular cordage called tok, made from dogbane. Where dogbane was scarce, cordage could be made from milkweed (Asclepias eriocarpa or A. fascicularis) which, being weaker than tok cordage, was woven into finer meshes, or less commonly, weaker nettle (Urtica) fibers. Net bags varied in size; those used by men were larger, measuring about 18 inches long and a 1 foot in diameter when full.
Uses P. ilicifolia, according to Janice Timbrook, "was [consumed] by every group in whose territory it occurs," and is an important part of the ethnobotany of many California indigenous people in that range.
Consumption
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