Plant in full to part sun or light shade and irrigate occasionally - pretty drought tolerant once established but seems to look best where it gets some irrigation. Is cold hardy to around at least the mid 20s°F - Peter Riedel noted this tree damaged in what he called a "recent frost" when writing about it growing in Santa Barbara in the early 1950's, which likely referred to the historic low temperature of 20°F recorded in Santa Barbara on January 4, 1949. Good near the coast with some protection from direct seaside influences. This is a good-looking dense tree in our climate and can be trimmed and used as a hedge or large screen or even espaliered on a large wall.

Olmediella betschleriana was originally described in 1855 as Ilex betschleriana to honor a Dr. Betschler by the German botanist Johann Heinrich Robert Göppert, it was renamed and transferred to the Flacourtiaceae (with Azara, Xylosma, and Dovyalis) in 1906 by Ludwig Eduard Theodor Loesener. The name for the genus is the diminutive ("ella") of Olmedia, a genus in the Moraceae that was named to honor the 18th century Spanish botanist Vincent de Olmedo. Another interesting thing about this plant is that it had been cultivated since the 1850's without knowing where it originated and was not until 1932 when it was found and documented in the wild in the mountains of Guatemala (and later in Mexico and Honduras) from 4,500 to 9,000 feet.

Of further interest is the fact that all of the other related genera, once in the now defunct Flacourtiaceae family, were only found in the old world but recent taxonomic treatment has transferred these plants into the more cosmopolitan willow family (Salicaceae). Other common names for this plant include Costa Rican Holly, Manzanote (a Guatemalan name referring to the look of the inedible fruit).

Though not common, specimens of this tree can be found along the California coast from San Francisco south to San Diego, including trees in the Strybing Arboretum, on the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus, the Fullerton Arboretum. Palomar College and street trees in West Los Angeles (11800 block of West Stanwood). It was a favorite of legendary Disney landscape designer Morgan Bill Evans and specimens can still be found growing in Fantasyland at Disneyland. In Santa Barbra we first saw this plant at the home of the late Lockwood and Elizabeth de Forrest where it was espaliered on the north facing wall of a garage and is also so espaliered along a wall of the Santa Barbara Municipal Courthouse on Victoria Street. There is a hedge on Junipero Street across from Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and a street tree in the 200 block of San Roque Rd. We previously grew this tree from 1982-89 and then in 2014 felt it was time to grow it again and we sold it from then until we closed the nursery in 2025. 

Information displayed on this page about Olmediella betschleriana is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.