KOSE FAMILY 231 



27. PHOTINIA Lindl. 



Evergreen shrub with simple coriaceous serrate leaves. Flowers white, small, 

 numerous, in little cj'mes aggregated in a terminal corymbose panicle. Calyx tur- 

 binate, 5-cleft. Petals spreading. Stamens (in ours) 10, in pairs opposite the 

 calyx-teeth; filaments subulate. Pistils 2 or 3, lightly united, only lightly adherent 

 to the fleshy calyx-tube, the thickened calyx-teeth closed over them in fruit. Fruit 

 bright red, ovoid, berry-like. Seeds 1 or 2 in each cell. — Species about 17, western 

 North America, central America and southeastern Asia. (Greek photeinos, shin- 

 ing, alluding to the foliage.) 



1. P. arbutif olia Lindl. Christmas Berry. Toyon. Shrub, rarely a small tree, 

 5 to 15 or even 26 feet high; leaf -blades oblong, acute at base and apex, dark green, 

 lighter beneath, 2 to 4 inches long, on petioles Yo to % inch long; panicle in an- 

 thesis rather dense, 2 to 3 inches high ; corolla 2% lines broad ; fruit 3 to 4 lines long. 



Rocky mountain slopes and deep soil of caiion bottoms, 10 to 3500 feet : Sierra 

 Nevada foothills from Tehama Co. to Tulare Co.; Coast Ranges from Humboldt 

 and Shasta Cos. to San Luis Obispo Co., thence south to San Diego Co. South to 

 Lower California. July, fr. Nov.-Jan. 



Field note. — Photinia arbutifolia is, in many mountain ranges, an important member of 

 the chaparral formation. Temperature is doubtless one of the factors which determine the limits 

 of its distribution. On the margins of its range in Humboldt County shrubs were severely injured 

 during the great frost of December 8-11, 1932, when a minimum of 21.8 degrees F. was recorded 

 at Eureka (J. P. Tracy). It cro^vn-sprouts, usually vigorously, after a fire, or when cut off at the 

 ground. Individuals often consist, therefore, of several stems arising from a thickened base; 

 after repeated fires this base continues to enlarge and becomes a woody platform ^2 to 2 feet 

 across and 3 to 8 inches in thickness. As a berry food Photinia arbutifolia is one of the most im- 

 portant for California birds and the most important of winter foods. It is a markedly handsome 

 shrub when covered from November to January with its fine clusters of crimson berries which are 

 produced only on second-year wood. These berry clusters are much used for holiday decoration 

 in the Christmas season. In the years 1911 and 1912 and thereabouts most of the stock for the 

 San Francisco market came from the region of Tuolumne County. With proper care of the shrubs, 

 the quality of the berries as a rule improves as a result of the harvest pruning, but the Tuolumne 

 region was so ill treated by the Italian gatherers that the district ceased for some years to be a 

 source of supply. In the southern Sierra Nevada this species occurs very slightly. In Fresno 

 and Tulare counties there is but one known station in each county. One of the earliest of Cali- 

 fornia shrubs to be discovered, Photinia arbutifolia was first collected at Monterey by Thaddeus 

 Haenke in 1791. 



Locs. — Sierra Nevada foothills: Tehama Co., Jepson; Butte Co. foothills, i?. M. Austin; 

 Colfax, Placer Co., Jones; Gwin Mine, Calaveras Co., Jepson; Parrott's Ferry, Stanislaus Eiver, 

 Jepson; Greeley Hill, Mariposa Co., Jepson; Humphreys, near Black Mt., e. Fresno Co., H. P. 

 Kelley; East Fork Limekiln Creek, Tulare Co., E. B. Homer. Marysville Buttes, Jepson 13,823. 

 Coast Eanges: Shasta, Shasta Co., Blanlinship; Hupa, Goddard; near South Yollo Bolly Mt., 

 Taylor; Bridgeville, Humboldt Co., Tracy 7338; Fort Seward, Humboldt Co., Landergen; Eed 

 Mountain Creek, nw. Mendocino Co., Jepson 9420; Ukiah, Jepson; Hough's Sprs., ne. Lake Co., 

 Jepson; St. Helena, Jepson 13,824; Weldon Canon, Vaca Mts., Jepson; Twin Sisters Peak, w. 

 Solano Co., Jepson; Inverness, Marin Co., Jepson; Fairfax, Marin Co., Jepson 9492; Berkeley 

 Hills, Jepson; Las Trampas Eidge, Contra Costa Co., Jepson; Mt. Diablo, Jepson 9516; Black 

 Mt., Santa Clara Co., Elmer 4688 ; Cedar Mt., Hamilton Eange, Forles; Pajaro Hills, n. Monterey 

 Co., Chandler 458; Arroyo Seco, Santa Lucia Mts., Jepson; Cantua Creek, w. Fresno Co., <S. C. 

 Lillis. S. Cal.: Sycamore Caiion, Santa Inez Mts., Jepson; Pelican Bay, Santa Cruz Isl., Jepson 

 12,107; Elysian Park, Los Angeles, Braunton 569; Santa Anita Caiion, San Gabriel Mts., Peirson 

 77 ; San Bernardino foothills. Parish; Santa Catalina Isl., Blanche Traslc (arboreous, 10 to 30 feet 

 high, and 6 to 18 inches in trunk diameter) ; Palomar Mt., Jepson; Coldwater Canon, Santa Ana 

 Mts., E. A. Zumbro 433 ; Hot Springs Mt., ne. San Diego Co., Jepson; Banner Canon, e. San Diego 

 Co., Chandler 5459 ; San Diego, Palmer 86. A large-fruited form occurs on Santa Catalina Island 

 and on San Clemente Island. 



Var. carina Jepson. Berries yellow.- — Monterey Co.; San Luis Obispo Co.; Santa Catalina 

 Isl.; San Bernardino Co. 



Locs. — Corral de Tierra, Monterey Co., H. A. Greene; Templeton, San Luis Obispo Co.; 

 Avalon, Santa Catalina Isl., Traslc; Eeche Canon, San Bernardino Valley, Parish 8045. 



Eefs.— Photinia arbutifolia Lindl. Bot. Eeg. pi. 491 (1820) ; Jepson, Man. 508, fig. 507 

 (1925). Crataegus arbutifolia Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 2, 3:202 (1811), type cultivated, seeds from 



