The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Prunus ilicifolia
Hollyleaf cherry is an evergreen shrub or small tree from California and Baja California with shiny, spiny, holly-like leaves and sweet purple-black fruit. It is drought tolerant and grows best in full sun and open, well-drained soil.
Prunus ilicifolia is a North American species of Prunus with the common names hollyleaf cherry, evergreen cherry, and in native Salinan, islay.
Prunus ilicifolia is an evergreen shrub or tree with shiny and spiny toothed leaves similar in appearance to those of holly. It grows to nearly 15 metres (49 feet) tall, with thick, alternate leaves 1.6–12 centimetres (3⁄4–4+3⁄4 inches) in length. It has small white flowers growing in clusters, similar in appearance to most members of the rose family. The purple to black fruit is a sweet drupe with a very thin pulp around a large single stone.
Prunus ilicifolia is used in California native plants and wildlife gardens, and drought-tolerant sustainable landscaping. The plant thrives in full sun and loose open soil (porous), and needs regular watering when young.
The pits are toxic to humans. The leaves are poisonous to eat, but not to handle.
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 coastal California (from Mendocino County to San Diego County as well as desert chaparral areas of the Mojave Desert) to Baja California and areas of northern Baja California Sur. 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.
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.
Prunus adenopoda · Red stinkwood · Prunus aitchisonii · Alabama cherry · Prunus alaica · Allegheny plum · American plum · Prunus amplifolia · Almond · Desert peach · Chickasaw plum · Prunus annularis
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Prunus ilicifolia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
