DAY 2 @ SWITZER - Prunus ilicifolia
Date: 10/23/2019
Time: 10:30 AM
Location: Switzer Falls Trail, near the parking lot.
Route: At the parking lot, go towards the left towards the end of the parking lot. About two-thirds of the way to the bathroom, you’ll spot a set of stairs to the left. Go up about halfway up the stairs and cherry will be to your right.
Weather: 75 F, hot with no shade.
Habitat: Scrub community, mostly dominated by yerba santa, chapparal yucca, California buckweat.
PRUNUS ILICIFOLIA - Holly-leaf cherry
I’m pretty disappointed in myself or not getting a picture of this plant. Hopefully, my written description will be pretty good. Holly-leaf cherry is a shrub, but definitely a tall shrub, much like manzanitas.
The leaves and the fruit are what distinguishes the most. It’s leaves look like an extreme version of the coast live oak leaves. They’re rounded with heavily undulating serrated edges. The leaves are a true green, very shiny on top, and thick. (Much like coast live oak, except coast live oak has pretty matte leaves) If you crush the leaves, they smell a little bit like almonds.
The fruit of the tree is a cherry (duh), but it doesn’t look like a traditional cherry. It’s shaped like a cherry, and its red. The red is the skin, when you peel it off, you get some flesh (which is edible), but mostly it just protects the relatively large pit. The skin on the holly-leaf cherries I saw was beginning to peel off, revealing the cream-colored pit.
I did get some good pictures of cherry pits from when our class encountered bear poop! That was interesting...