Toyon: California’s indigenous plant is festive, beautiful and edible MORE “Toyon is actually very edible, and it has been eaten by native folks up and down California,” says Lila Higgins from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Photo by John Rusk (CC BY 2.0).
The holly, with its prickly green leaves and bright red berries, is often used as decoration this time of year. There’s a similar native plant called the California holly, also known as Toyon. That’s what indigenous people named the plant before the Europeans showed up.
“Toyon is actually very edible, and it has been eaten by native folks up and down California,” says Lila Higgins, who works at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. In contrast, the European holly is poisonous.
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