Prunus ilicifolia

Holly leaf cherry

Family: Rosaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Holly leaf cherry is a California native shrub found in coastal and interior mountain ranges in chaparral, woodland, and forest habitats. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces small white to pale yellow flowers in delicate racemes. Growing as an evergreen shrub 3 to 15 meters tall with multiple stems, it develops a distinctive branching structure. Its leathery, glossy leaves are ovate to round, 16 to 120 millimeters long, with edges that can be entire or spiny-serrate and rounded tips. The fruit develops as a fleshy, thin-pulped cherry 12 to 25 millimeters long, ranging in color from red to blue-black when ripe.

California counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Imperial, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Orange, Monterey, San Francisco, Ventura, Kern, San Mateo, Santa Clara, San Benito, Merced, Santa Cruz, Alameda, Fresno, Napa, Contra Costa, Mendocino, Solano, Sacramento

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.