Christmas in Los Peñasquitos Canyon
Dr. Elberta Fleming
In celebration of the holiday season, the preserve’s Christmas “holly” is resplendent with clusters of brilliant red berries. This is the Toyon, or California Christmas Berry (Heteromeles arbutifolia), a chaparral bush that dots the hills of Southern California. Toyon gave Hollywood its name. Its shiny red berries resemble small apples. They accent deep green holly-like leaves. The dry, tart berries were food for Indians, Spanish Californios and American settlers. Indians roasted the berries or tossed them into a cooking basket. The Californios and Americans made a pleasant cider from them.
Toyon berries begin to ripen in October and often last through February. They are at their peak during the Christmas season. Besides adding beauty to the landscape, Toyon is valuable in preventing erosion because it grows on slopes and in gulches.
Another canyon plant has played a role in the season’s celebration for centuries. This plant appears high in the trees and resembles large green balls. It is Mistletoe (Phoradendrom leucarpum ssp. tomentosum), a parasite found most often in oaks.
Englands’ early inhabitants gathered Mistletoe for their winter solstice rites. Today’s custom of hanging Mistletoe on Christmas Eve derives from these ancient ceremonies. Somewhere in history the ritual of kissing under Mistletoe evolved.
Mistletoe punctures a tree’s bark and draws nourishment from its rich sap. In extreme cases the unwilling host tree is so impoverished that is slowly dies. With it the Mistletoe dies too, a victim of its own greed.
Mistletoe berries are wax-like and pinkish white, and filled with a sticky pulp. Birds are very fond of the berries and help scatter the seeds. However, Mistletoe berries are filled with toxic amines that are extremely poisonous to people. Children and adults have died within 10 hours of eating then. Keep Mistletoe out of the reach of young children.
[This article, minus the latin scientific names, was first printed in the September 1987 issue of our newsletter. The drawings are by Dr. Fleming. The late Dr. Elberta Fleming was a co-founder of the Friends back in 1984 and the soul of our organization until her untimely death.]
