112 WITH THE FLOWERS AND TREES 



ago, it goes by the name of California Maybush, the 

 plant being at first regarded as a species of haw- 

 thorn, which in England is often called the May. 

 In midsummer the rich green crowns of the toyon 

 Spanish- American tollon of the same pronouncia- 

 tion are lighted with abundant panicles of small 

 white flowers; but in its native State it is not until 

 the early days of winter when the bushes are all 

 aglow with their masses of red berries, that the 

 plant becomes an object of especial interest. Then 

 every week-end the canons and chaparral slopes 

 are scoured by parties of young and old in quest of 

 the berry-bearing branches, and as the true holly 

 is not indigenous to California, these mock-holly 

 berries have come to take their place in the Yule- 

 tide festivities of the Golden State. As the leaf of 

 the toyon is not at all holly-like, makers of Christ- 

 mas greenery sometimes mingle sprigs of the ber- 

 ries with the spiny foliage of chaparro, or of still 

 another shrub of the chaparral whose leaves bear 

 some resemblance to holly. This is the wild cherry, 

 a decorative shrub summer and winter, whose 

 glossy leaves glisten like shining morning faces in 

 the sunshine which they love. The dark crimson 

 cherries which are ripe in the autumn and resemble 

 small round plums, look very tempting to the 

 thirsty wayfarer, but are disappointing in having 



