Hollyleaf cherry

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Survives zone 8 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Unusual among the Prunus here for being evergreen, with dark, spiny-toothed, holly-like leaves that give it its name. Fruit is mostly skin and stone with a thin, sweet-musky pulp — a traditional food source for California's Indigenous peoples, who processed the seed kernels much like acorns. ⚠ Kernels/pits cyanogenic.

Hardiness

Zone 8–9

Habit

Tree

Edible part

Fruit

Ripens

Aug–Oct

Mature size

Usually a large shrub or small tree, occasionally to 15 m (50 ft); dense crown, stout spreading branches

Light

Full sun to part shade

Soil pH

6.0–7.8 (mildly acid to mildly alkaline)

Environment

Mediterranean, coastal

Native range

Coastal and inland California — northern, central and southern California, sea level to about 1,600 m.

Status

Wild

Years to fruit

4–6 yrs

Growth speed

30–60 cm/year — medium to fast.

Spacing

400 cm (157 in) apart — about 16 m² (172 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Evergreen — unusual in the genus — alternate, thick and leathery, 2–5 cm long, glossy dark green with distinctly spiny, holly-like toothed margins, which is what ilicifolia records.

Root system

Deep-rooted and drought-adapted, with a strong central root that lets it survive Californian summer drought; far less suckering than the deciduous American plums.

Fruit description

Red to dark purple or black drupe, about 2.5 cm, mostly skin and seed, sweet-musky flavour

Propagation

Seed (fresh needs no treatment, stored seed wants 1–3 months stratification), or dormant hardwood, softwood, semi-hardwood or root cuttings — semi-hardwood/softwood taken in summer roots best.

Pollination

Insect-pollinated and largely self-fertile — a single holly-leaved cherry will set fruit, though crops are heavier with a second plant. Bees work the small white spring racemes.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.