Story behind the art of Gilly Shaeffer

Botanical Art Worldwide 2025-A More Abundant Future:

Diversity in Garden, Farm, and Field

American Society of Botanical Artists at the Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO

Toyon

Heteromeles arbutifolia

My interest in painting the toyon began many years before I knew of this Botanical Art Worldwide exhibition. The area where I live in Southern California is made up of hillsides, canyons, mature trees, open spaces, and lots of wild life. The toyon plant has a strong presence in this area. Over the years that I have lived here, I have taken walks almost daily, so I am familiar with the vegetation and how each plant type goes through different stages or cycles during the span of a year. If I were to count all the toyons that I pass on my two-mile daily walk, it could be as many as 50 to 100 large shrub trees. These plants have always been a favorite of mine because of the attractive clusters of orangey-red berries and semi-shiny green leaves that appear on the branches from November until March. Some people refer to these berries as “California holly” or “Christmas berry”.  The toyons make a great addition to Christmas wreaths and other floral holiday decorations. Due to this festive holiday color scheme, toyon branches get clipped so frequently that the state of California has had to intervene, saying that that no persons in the state may collect toyon on public lands. Being a botanical artist, I am often looking for a plant subject to paint for holiday cards and toyons are a natural choice for me.

Toyons are native to California and Baja, Mexico. This prominent member of the rose family can be found in woodland, chapparal and coastal scrub areas up and down the state and also in the Sierra foothills. Not only does this plant produce clusters of orangey-red berries, but in the springtime this shrub tree is filled with clusters of tiny white flowers that eventually become the red berries. These flowers are pollinated by a variety of local pollinators, notably, native bees.

The online resource called the EthnoHerbalist has provided much information about how native Americans benefited from the toyon berries. The berry fruits have been recognized as a source of food for many early human settlers in California, as well as a current source of food for wild life such as mockingbirds, finches, cedar waxwings, coyotes and bears. 

Toyons were a favorite food of several native American tribes in southern California, over history. The Chumash, the Tongva, the Costanoan, the Luiseno, the Kumeyaay and the Cahuilla all collected and ate berries from the toyon tree. This fruit could be dried and made into jelly. The pulp could also be dried and then later cooked into a porridge or combined with seed flour to make pancakes. When eaten raw, the toyon berries have a pungent and bitter taste. To remedy this unpleasantness, early settlers would only pick berries that were completely ripe. These ripe berries were then exposed to heat before consumption, which had the benefit of making them more palatable. 

The Cahuilla, Costanoan and Kumeyaay people made a wash or poultice from the toyon bark and leaves to treat infected wounds. It was said that tea was made from the toyon bark and leaves also, used to relieve stomach aches. Young Costanoan women took this toyon infusion to help regulate their menstrual cycles.

Toyon can be found in both northern and southern California. I especially like that it does well in the often very dry conditions of southern California. With its white clusters of tiny flowers in the spring, to its red berries and its semi-shiny green foliage in the fall and winter, it adds great beauty to the canyons and hillsides of this area, as well as being a reliable and drought tolerant addition to home gardens. Not only is it an attractive and resilient addition to the California natural environment and a great subject for a botanical artist to paint, but it is also very much appreciated for its long history as a food source and also for its medicinal compounds that have benefited indigenous people of southern California for many years. For all the above reasons, the toyon has deservedly earned the title of “Chapparal Superstar”, as it was called by the blog of the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in December 2021.

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Read more about this artist's work:America's Flora