ROSACES, SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 123 
HETEROMELES ARBUTIFOLIA. 
: Tollon. Toyon. 
Heteromeles arbutifolia, Roemer, Fum. Nat. Syn. iii. Am. i. 473. — Dietrich, Syn. iii. 162.— Bentham, Bot. 
105, — Decaisne, Now. Arch. Mus. x. 144, t 9.— 
Brewer & Watson, Bot. Cal. i. 188; ii. 444. — Sargent, 
Forest Trees N. Am. 10th Census U. S. ix. 83. — Greene, 
Voy. Sulphur, 14; Pl. Hartweg. 307.— Torrey, Hmory’s 
Rep. 140; Sitgreaves’ Rep. 159; Pacific R. R. Rep. iv. 
85; Bot. Mex. Bound. Surv. 64; Bot. Wilkes Explor. 
Fil. Francis. i. 53. 
Crateegus arbutifolia, Aiton, Hort. Kew. ed. 2, iii. 202 
(not Poiret). — Loddiges, Bot. Cad. t. 201. Sei. St. Pétersbourg, xix. 180 (Mél. Biol. ix. 180).— 
Aronia arbutifolia, Nuttall, Gen. i. 306. Wenzig, Linnea, xxxviii. 96. 
Photinia arbutifolia, Lindley, Zrans. Linn. Soc. xiii.103; Mespilus arbutifolia, Link, Znum. ii. 36. 
Bot. Reg. t. 491; and under t. 1956. — Sprengel, Syst. Photinia salicifolia, Presl, Hpimel. Bot. 204. — Walpers, 
ii. 508. — De Candolle, Prodr. ii. 631. — Chamisso & Ann. iii. 858. 
Schlechtendal, Linnea, ii. 542.— Don, Gen. Syst. ii. Heteromeles Fremontiana, Decaisne, Now. Arch. Mus. 
602.— Spach, Hist. Vég. ii. 80.—Hooker & Arnott, iii. 144, 
Bot. Voy. Beechey, 139, 340.— Torrey & Gray, Fl. N. 
Exped. 291.— Bolander, Proc. Cal. Acad. iti. 80.— 
Palmer, Am. Nat. xii. 599.— Maximowicz, Bull. Acad. 
A tree, sometimes thirty feet in height, with a straight trunk twelve to eighteen inches in diameter, 
dividing, a few feet above the surface of the ground, into numerous erect branches which form a hand- 
some narrow or round-topped head ; or more often a low much-branched shrub. The bark of the trunk 
varies from two thirds to one half of an inch in thickness, and is light gray with a generally smooth 
surface broken by obscure reticulated ridges. The branchlets are at first coated with pale pubescence 
which gradually disappears, and in their first winter they are dark red and slightly puberulous, ultimately 
becoming darker and glabrous. The leaves, which appear in early summer with the flowers, are three 
or four inches long, an inch to an inch and a half broad, and are borne on petioles which vary from 
half an inch to two thirds of an inch in length and usually remain on the branches during at least two 
winters. The flowers, which are produced from June to August in compact panicles four to six inches 
across, are often more or less hidden by young lateral branches which rise above them. The fruit, 
which is mealy, astringent, and acid, ripens in November and December and remains on the branches 
until late in the winter. 
Heteromeles arbutifolia is distributed through the Californian coast regions from Mendocino 
County to Lower California ;! it is most common, and reaches its largest size on the islands off the 
California coast” and extends inland to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino Moun- 
tains. It generally grows in the neighborhood of streams, on dry hills, and especially on their northern 
slopes, and is often found clinging to the steep cliffs of the coast fully exposed to the sweep of ocean 
gales; on the island of Santa Catalina, where it is very abundant, it forms groves of considerable 
extent,’ and on the foothills of the Sierras, where it ascends to elevations of two thousand feet above 
the level of the sea, it usually grows as a shrub. 
The fruit-covered branches are gathered in large quantities and are used in California for Christ- 
mas decorations.* 
Heteromeles arbutifolia was discovered by Archibald Menzies, the Scotch surgeon who accom- 
panied Vancouver to the northwest coast of America, and, in 1796, introduced it into English gardens.° 
In winter, when its branches are covered with great clusters of scarlet fruit, whose effectiveness is 
1 T.S. Brandegee, Proc. Cal. Acad. ser. 2, iii. 136. 
2 Greene, Bull. Cal. Acad. ii. 397; Pittonia, i. 77, 88.—T. S. 
Brandegee, Proc. Cal. Acad. ser. 2, i. 209 ; Zoé, i. 136. 
8 T.S. Brandegee, Zoé, i. 111. 
4 K. Brandegee, Zoé, ii. 349. 
5 Loudon, Arb. Brit. ii. 868, f. 619, 
