Toyon
Photo by Kate Marianchild
EXPLORING THE WEB OF LIFE
with Kate Marianchild
Species of the Month: TOYON
With its bright red berries TOYON warms the winter landscape like a blazing fire. One of very few native eateries that serve up fruit in winter, one might wonder why the berries don’t get munched more quickly. Here’s the scoop:
• Unlike most other berries, Toyon’s little green fruits don’t even begin to ripen until October.
• Before they are fully ripe, the berries protect the seeds inside with poisons in their pulp. If a bird takes the tiniest nibble, chemicals in the berry will mix and form a small amount of highly toxic cyanide gas, deterring the birds.
• Eventually the cyanide-producing chemicals retreat into the seed. The berries celebrate by turning red, signaling, “Time to eat!!” Because the berries have usually turned color by December, the plant is sometimes called “Christmasberry.”
• Robins, cedar waxwings, hermit thrushes, and California thrashers especially love the ripe berries, which are also gobbled up by western bluebirds (see last column), mockingbirds, band-tailed pigeons, towhees, California quail, western scrub jays, varied thrushes, and black-headed grosbeaks. Purple finches tear away the pulp and eat the seeds.
• Mammals also eat the berries. Bears, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, and humans consume mature Toyon berries. , , Humans find them slightly sweet when ripe, and sweeter when lightly roasted.
And since we’re talking Toyon, here are a few more interesting facts:
• The leaves also contain protective poisons – tannins and the cyanoglucosides that are found in the berries. The toxins reach the highest level in September and October – exactly when deer and other herbivores are most likely to want to graze them!
• Dusky-footed woodrats put Toyon leaves in special “ageing” chambers inside their tidy nests before moving them to their pantries! Ageing removes the toxins, making the leaves edible. They also put the green leaves on top of their nests, possibly to dry out or cure before being moved inside.
• Birds such as towhees and wrentits use Toyon’s dense foliage for hiding and nesting, both in branches and on the ground.
• Toyon and other shrubs common to the chaparral community have evolved to recover quickly from forest fires. After a fire Toyon sends up sprouts from its underground root crown. Deer like to munch the young sprouts.
• Thick, waxy leaves and a deep taproot help Toyon survive hot, dry summers.
• The branches of Toyon are so popular as a Christmas decoration that a 1920 law made it illegal to pick them.
• Many people believe that the town of Hollywood is named after the plentiful Toyon that used to grow there.
• Toyon’s Latin name is Heteromeles arbutifolia. Hetero = different; meles = apples; arbuti = Mexican madrone; folia = leaves. Together the name means “The plant with different apples and madrone-like leaves.”
• Unlike ornamental Pyracantha berries, Toyon berries don’t make birds drunk, as is commonly thought. Because tipsy birds near busy streets often end up as dead birds, consider planting Toyon instead of Pyracantha for winter color.
• Toyon is a cheerful drought-tolerant native plant that doesn’t need fertilizer, feeds and hides birds, attracts bees, is not terribly popular with deer, and controls erosion on hillsides. A perfect plant for the oak woodland landscape!
Outdoor learning opportunities: Look to see how long Toyon berries last on bushes this spring. During nesting season peer carefully and quietly into Toyon bushes for nests. Check out woodrat nests to see what fresh foliage is lying around on top.
Exploring the Web of Life© is a monthly column written by Kate Marianchild of Ukiah, CA, with help from her friends. Permission required for duplication.
Caldwell, Jeff, Birds and Native Plants: “Berries for the Birds,” Santa Clara County Chapter, California Native Plant Society, www.stanford.edu/~rawlings/birds.html
• http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/hetarb/all.html
• California Flora Nursery: www.calfloranursery.com/pages_plants/ pages_h/hetarb.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyon,
• San Diego Natural History Museum Bird Atlas Project, www.sdnhm.org/research/birdatlas/focus/thrush.html
• http://www.laspilitas.com/California_birds/Mockingbirds_and
_Thrashers/California_thrashers_in_your_garden.htm
• www.laspilitas.com/California_birds/Jays_and_magpies/scrub_jay/
scrub_jay_in_your_garden.htm
• Caldwell, Jeff, Birds and Native Plants: “Berries for the Birds,” Santa Clara County Chapter, California Native Plant Society, www.stanford.edu/~rawlings/birds.html
• Sea and Sage Audubon, http://www.seaandsageaudubon.org/ BirdInfo/ birdinfoplantswildlife.html
Caldwell, Jeff, op. cit.
Langhans, Wendy, “A slash of red in the canyon,” in Valley News, 2/13/2007, http://valleynews.com/SantaClaritaValley/Stories/ Environment/General/Story~182839.aspx
Hunsaker, D., Mammals of Torrey Pines Reserve as quoted in http://www.torreypine.org/animals/mammals.html
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/hetarb/all.html
Moerman, D, ., Native American Ethnobotany, Timber Press, Oregon, http://www.sdnhm.org/valentien/toyon.html
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/hetarb/all.html
Kaplan, Alan, “At Home with the Packrats,” Bay Nature, Oct-Dec. 2007: Families Afield: Exploring Nature with Kids.
Kaplan, op. cit.
Moerman, op. cit.
Ibid.
Santa Barbara City College, Concepts of 100, Introduction to the Chaparral, Biology 100, http://www.biosbcc.net/b100plant/htm/toyon.htm
Caldwell, op. cit.