page_title: Prunus ilicifolia
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Prunus ilicifolia / Description
caption_attribution_description: Photographed at BioTrek. Contributed and © by Curtis Clark. Licensed as noted.
context_page_description: Prunus ilicifolia It is native to the chaparral areas of coastal California, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. as well as the desert chaparral areas of the Mojave desert.
  Prunus ilicifolia is an evergreen shrub to tree, producing edible cherries, with shiny and spiny toothed leaves similar in appearance to those of holly. This resemblance is the source of both the common name "holly-leaved cherry" and the scientific epithet "ilicifolia". It grows 8 to 30 feet tall, with thick, alternate leaves 1 to 2 inches in length. It has small white flowers growing in clusters, similar in appearance to most members of the rose family, Rosaceae, flowering from March to May. The flowers are terminal on small stalks, with the youngest at the cluster center. The purple to black fruit is sweet, with a very thin pulp around a large single stone.
  The plant is prized for cultivation, showy and easily grown from seed, and has been cultivated for centuries as a food source, and tolerates twice yearly pruning when often used as a hedge. The plant likes full sun, loose open soil, and tolerates drought conditions well, but needs regular watering when young. Bees are attracted to it.
context_section_description: It is an evergreen shrub or small tree approaching 15 meters (50 feet) in height, with dense, hard leaves (sclerophyllous foliage). The leaves are 1.6–12 cm (0.64-4.8 inches) long with a 4–25 mm (0.16-1.00 inch) petiole and spiny margins, somewhat resembling those of the holly. The leaves are dark green when mature and generally shiny on top, and have a smell resembling almonds when crushed; these are poisonous to eat, but not to handle. The flowers are small (1–5 mm), white, produced on racemes in the spring. The fruit is a cherry 12–25 mm diameter, edible and sweet, but contains little flesh surrounding the smooth seed.
caption: Prunus ilicifolia flowers
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