Editing Prunus ilicifolia

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; width: 320px; margin-left: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 1em;"
! colspan="2" style="background: #e8e8e8;" | Hollyleaf cherry (''Prunus ilicifolia'')
|-
! colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | [[File:Prunus ilicifolia ne1.jpg|300px|Prunus ilicifolia fruit and foliage]]
|-
! Scientific name
| ''Prunus ilicifolia''
|-
! Common names
| Holly-leaved cherry; hollyleaf cherry; evergreen cherry; Catalina Island cherry
|-
! Genus
| [[Prunus]]
|-
! Family
| [[Rosaceae]]
|-
! Order
| [[Rosales]]
|-
! Native range
| California and northwestern Mexico
|-
! Growth habit
| Evergreen shrub or small tree, 1–8 m; dense foliage
|-
! Fruit
| Red, purple or sometimes yellow drupe with thin sweetish pulp
|-
! Flowering
| Spring
|-
! Fruit ripening
| Fall seed release is recorded
|}

'''Prunus ilicifolia''', commonly called hollyleaf cherry or holly-leaved cherry, is an evergreen California and northwestern Mexican shrub or small tree. Kew accepts the name ''Prunus ilicifolia'' and gives this native range.<sup id="cite_ref-1">[[#cite_note-1|[1]]]</sup> The fruit is described as sweet, but it has little flesh around a smooth stone rather than the thick flesh of a commercial dessert cherry.<sup id="cite_ref-2">[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-3">[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup>

== Description ==

Hollyleaf cherry is an evergreen sclerophyllous shrub or small tree recorded at roughly 1–8 m. The leaves are dense and holly-like, with spiny teeth along the margins. Flowers are white, bisexual and borne in racemes. The drupes vary from red to purple and are sometimes yellow; they contain thin sweetish pulp around a smooth, hard seed.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> Calscape gives a fruit diameter of about 12–25 mm, while the forestry account emphasizes variation in color and form rather than a single fixed fruit type.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup>

Native plants occur in chaparral and foothill woodland, especially on dry, well-drained slopes and fans below about 1,525 m. They also occupy cooler north-facing slopes, arroyos and drainage channels. Sand, loam and clay are all recorded, and apparent tolerance of alkaline soil is noted in the habitat account.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> That range of settings supports treating drainage and exposure as more important starting considerations than a single named soil mix.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

Two subspecies are recognized in horticultural treatment, including the Catalina Island cherry, but subspecies are taxonomic units rather than evidence of named fruit cultivars.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> No documented cultivar or selection with verified grower-relevant tradeoffs is included here.

== Cultivation ==

=== Soil and water ===

The native pattern is a well-drained root zone: dry slopes and fans are typical, although the species also grows in arroyos, drainage channels and relatively mesic north-facing sites.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> Sand, loam and clay are all represented in the recorded range, so texture alone is not a sufficient prescription. Begin with a porous medium or site that sheds excess water, and adapt irrigation to how quickly that root zone dries.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> Calscape rates the plant from very low to moderate water and from medium to fast drainage; that account supports avoiding chronic saturation while recognizing that a container can dry more quickly than an in-ground site.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup>

The apparent alkaline-soil tolerance in the habitat record is not a reason to ignore drainage or assume that every soil will perform equally.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> As a site-selection inference from those habitat records, a raised or otherwise freely draining position is a more defensible starting point in heavy soil than routine irrigation on a flat, slow-draining site.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

=== Sun and humidity ===

Plants occur in exposed chaparral and foothill settings as well as in more sheltered woodland and drainage sites. Full sun or partial shade is suitable in the horticultural account, and seedlings are described as preferring full sunlight.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> Full sun is therefore the better-supported starting exposure for seedlings, while partial shade remains an account-level option for the species.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup>

The species is evergreen rather than a winter-deciduous cherry. Its native habitats range from dry chaparral to locally cooler, more mesic slopes, so humidity should be considered together with airflow, soil drainage and seasonal rainfall instead of treated as a target number.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

=== Seasonal changes ===

White flowers are associated with spring, while the forestry account records seed release in fall. Evergreen foliage remains through this cycle rather than giving the plant a leafless dormant season.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> Because the species is recorded from both dry slopes and drainage channels, do not transfer a single fixed irrigation schedule across sites; monitor drying while preserving drainage.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup>

A reported 15°F tolerance appears in the horticultural account, but it is a database value rather than a controlled, universal hardiness limit.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> Treat it as a provenance- and site-dependent observation, not a guarantee for every plant or container.<sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup>

== Propagation ==

Fresh seed is the clearest species-specific starting point: seed can be sown in flats, beds or directly, and the forestry synthesis reports no requirement for heat treatment or fire treatment.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> Stored seed is short-lived, with viability reported as no longer than nine months when dried at room temperature.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

Moist cold stratification is reported for stored seed. One cited study summarized in the forestry account obtained 24% germination after 90 days at 0.6–5°C; that figure belongs to that study and seed lot, not to a guaranteed germination rate. Calscape gives a broader practical range of one to three months for stored seed.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> Nursery emergence is reported in 20–40 days after sowing, but emergence timing and total germination should be expected to vary with seed freshness, temperature and handling.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

Vegetative recovery is also documented: plants can sprout from stumps or root crowns after top damage. That record supports the species' ability to resprout in the landscape, but it does not establish a routine cutting, layering or rootstock protocol for nursery production.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup> The forestry account describes established transplanted plants as requiring little maintenance.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

== Flowering, fruiting, and harvest ==

The flowers are white, bisexual and produced in spring. Fruit is a small drupe, commonly red or purple and sometimes yellow, with thin sweetish pulp around a smooth seed.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup> The combination of bisexual flowers and the absence of a documented pollination trial does not justify assuming either universal self-fertility or a universal need for a second tree.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

Seed release is recorded in fall, providing a seasonal marker for fruiting in the native range.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

The plant is reported to begin seed production as early as its third year in the literature synthesis, but that is not a promise of commercial fruiting age. Establishment rate, provenance, site, plant size and growing conditions can all change the time to a useful crop.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

== Fruit and uses ==

The cherries are described as edible and sweet, but they contain little flesh around the stone. The cited descriptions therefore characterize this as a small-fruited native cherry with variable color and a thin pulp layer, not as an equivalent to a commercial dessert cherry.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup><sup>[[#cite_note-3|[3]]]</sup>

Descriptions of the pulp as edible and sweet do not establish a species-specific human food-safety guarantee. The pit warning associated with the forestry account concerns Prunus exposure in livestock and should not be converted into a broader human toxicology claim.<sup>[[#cite_note-2|[2]]]</sup>

== Photos ==

[[File:Prunus ilicifolia kz01.jpg|320px|Prunus ilicifolia in Vasquez Rocks Natural Area, California]]
[[File:Prunus ilicifolia flowers 2005-03-24.jpg|320px|Prunus ilicifolia flowers at BioTrek]]

== References ==

* <span id="cite_note-1"></span>[[#cite_ref-1|↑]] '''[1]''' [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30123157-2 Prunus ilicifolia | Plants of the World Online].

* <span id="cite_note-2"></span>[[#cite_ref-2|↑]] '''[2]''' [https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/shrub/pruili/all.html Prunus ilicifolia | Fire Effects Information System].

* <span id="cite_note-3"></span>[[#cite_ref-3|↑]] '''[3]''' [https://calscape.org/Prunus-ilicifolia-(Hollyleaf-Cherry) Hollyleaf Cherry | Calscape].

== Image credits ==

* File:Prunus ilicifolia ne1.jpg — fruit and foliage; Noah Elhardt; CC BY-SA 2.5; [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prunus_ilicifolia_ne1.jpg file page].

* File:Prunus ilicifolia kz01.jpg — plant in Vasquez Rocks Natural Area, California; Krzysztof Ziarnek (Kenraiz); CC BY-SA 4.0; [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prunus_ilicifolia_kz01.jpg file page].

* File:Prunus ilicifolia flowers 2005-03-24.jpg — flowers at BioTrek; Curtis Clark; CC BY-SA 2.5; [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prunus_ilicifolia_flowers_2005-03-24.jpg file page].

[[Category:Fruit plants]]
[[Category:Prunus]]