By Tomos Jones

Dreaming of a white Christmas? Well, the plant for today’s blog is Symphoricarpos albus, the Snowberry. It’s a member of the Caprifoliaceae or Honeysuckle family, native to North America. It was originally described in Linnaeus’ Species Plantarum in 1753 as Vaccinium album L. (Ericaceae). Since 1914 it has been referred to as Symphoricarpos albus (L.) S.F. Blake. The generic name refers to the compact cluster of fruits. It derives from the Ancient Greek συμφορεῖν (sumphoreîn), meaning ‘to bear together’, and καρπός (karpós) meaning fruit. Continue reading →

By  Andrew Doran¹ and Dean Kelch²

¹Curator of Cultivated Plants, University & Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley
²Primary Botanist, California Department of Agriculture, Sacramento

Native distribution of Heteromeles arbutifolia

Can you grow holly in the balmy state of California? Yes, you can. Although common holly, Ilex aquifolium, comes from areas with higher rainfall than most of California, holly makes a good garden plant in northern California. It is even slightly invasive along the fog-shrouded coast. Nevertheless, holly is not a particularly common nursery plant. This may be partly due to the presence of toyon: a large, native shrub with handsome, dark evergreen leaves and showy red “berries” borne in the depth of winter. Toyon, a Spanish adaptation of an Ohlone Indian word for this plant, is also known by several English local names as Christmas berry and California Holly. In fact, Hollywood in Los Angeles is named after this plant. Continue reading →