Toyon: A Plant of Many Names and Uses

by Jessica Calvillo.

If you are on the lookout for a plant that can provide your garden with color during the winter, then Toyon has you covered. This large, evergreen shrub, which also goes by the common name California Holly, deserves just as much fame as the city that was named after it, Hollywood. Before the city of Hollywood became what it is today, it was once home to populations of this holly-like shrub so dense they resembled a woodland, hence the name holly-wood.

During the 1920s, California's Christmas Berry population was under threat due to the popularity of its clusters of bright red berries as Christmas decorations, which resulted in a law making collection of wild Christmas Berry illegal. For many indigenous communities, Toyon plays a significant role in traditional ethnobotanical practices, including making fruitcakes by boiling the raw berries to remove the astringent flavor.

Not only in the wild but in gardens as well, Toyon can be seen providing sustenance to foraging wildlife such as mockingbirds, American robins, cedar waxwings and a vast array of native bees and butterflies. Due to its extensive natural range stretching from Northern California to Baja California, Toyon is quite popular for both residential gardens and habitat restoration.