Heteromeles arbutifolia (icon; more commonly h by California botanists), and commonly known as Toyon, is a common perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

 shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

 native to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 down to Baja California

Baja California

Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...

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Toyon is a prominent component of the coastal sage scrub

Coastal sage scrub

Coastal sage scrub is a low scrubland plant community found in the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of coastal California and northern Baja California. It is characterized by low-growing aromatic, and drought-deciduous shrubs adapted to the semi-arid Mediterranean climate of the...

 plant community, and is a part of drought-adapted chaparral

Chaparral

Chaparral is a shrubland or heathland plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico...

 and mixed oak woodland

California oak woodland

California oak woodland is a plant community found throughout the California chaparral and woodlands ecoregion of California in the United States and northwestern Baja California in Mexico...

 habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

s. It is also known by the common names Christmas berry and California holly.

It is the sole species of Heteromeles, but is closely related to the Asian genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Photinia

Photinia

Photinia is a genus of about 40-60 species of small trees and large shrubs in the Rosaceae family. As interpreted here, they are restricted to warm temperate Asia, from the Himalaya east to Japan and south to India and Thailand, but some botanists also include the closely related North American...

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