Science Corner: Christmas Berry
Geoffrey Benn • December 20, 2023
December in the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument is a time of muted colors, with the dry browns of late fall slowly starting to give way to the wet greens of winter. One delightful exception to this palette of earth tones is the Christmas Berry, also known as the Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), which bears bright red fruit in the late fall and early winter. The Christmas Berry is a large evergreen shrub that is found throughout the coast ranges in a variety of ecosystems including both chaparral and oak woodlands.
Plants that have evolved in the fire-prone ecosystems of the Inner Coast Range typically utilize one of two strategies for rebuilding populations after fires – germination of seeds dormant in the soil or resprouting from underground root networks. In the case of the Christmas Berry, the aboveground portion of the plant is relatively fire-resistant and may be able to survive low-intensity fires. However, if the top of the plant is killed off in a fire, the Christmas Berry has a strong ability to resprout from its root crown. This ability is critical to its survival, because Christmas Berry seeds are easily damaged by heat and are therefore unlikely to germinate from the soil after a fire.
The fruit of the Christmas Berry have been used by California Indian tribes as both food and medicine. The fruit is somewhat bitter when raw, so it is typically dried or cooked before consumption. Culinary uses include making cider, dried fruit leathers, and inclusion in pancakes. If you’d like to try your hand at cooking with Christmas Berries, you can find a number of different recipes that use their fruit here.
While foraging for wild Christmas Berries may not be for everyone, they also make an excellent addition to landscaping and do particularly well in locations with full sun, where they will provide food for pollinators and birds alike. So, if you find your garden looking a bit drab mid-winter, consider adding some color by planting a Christmas Berry!
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