To many people, Holly conveys the impression of a plant with thick, spiny evergreen leaves and bright red berries.
Our well-known American Holly, Ilex opaca, and the almost equally familiar English Holly, aquifolium, both fit this description, as do the Chinese species, cornuta, and pernyi.
However, it is a shock to some to learn that our native inkberry, glabra, is also a Holly, although its leaves are without spines and the fruits are blackish rather than red.
The same is true of the Japanese Holly, crenata, and several other species. All these hollies have leathery leaves which persist throughout the year.
There exists, however, within the genus Ilex, a group of species that is less holly-like than inkberry. Their leaves are membranaceus and deciduous rather than coriaceous and persistent.
Nevertheless, by the structure of their flowers and fruits, they, too, are entitled to be considered hollies, although their common names frequently conceal this fact.
Over the years, the evergreen hollies have claimed the major share of attention. However, the deciduous forms have high ornamental value and are worthy of cultivation.
Dioecious Holly Blossoms
Like their evergreen congeners, the deciduous species of Ilex possess imperfect or unisexual flowers, and the male and female blossoms are dioecious or borne on separate plants.
There is no way of knowing whether an individual holly plant is male or female until it flowers.
Fortunately, the female flowers are receptive to pollen from the same or another species, and the female plants nearly always bear fruit.
The so-called holly berries are berry-like drupes containing several bony nutlets. Those deciduous species are quite showy, varying in color from red or scarlet to orange-yellow and varying in size from ¼ to ½” in diameter.
Although most deciduous hollies do best in moist, somewhat acid soils, they will flourish in normal well-drained situations, especially if a mulch of oak leaves or pine needles is occasionally added.
Holly Species From New England, Florida, and Gulf States
The following species do well from New England south to Florida and the Gulf States. They also prosper along most Pacific Coast areas where shade and moisture are available.
- Black alder or winterberry (verticillata) grows to about 10′ feet, occurring in damp woods with slightly acid soils from the St. Lawrence Valley west to Minnesota and south to Florida and Louisiana.
The common name, black alder, applies because its leaves often turn blackish after the first frost. Scarlet drupes develop while the leaves are still green and usually remain long after the latter has fallen, giving the plant its second name, winterberry.
- Smooth winterberry (laevigata) is closely related to verticillata but is more restricted to acidic, boggy situations. Its male flowers are borne on long slender stalks, and drupes are orange or scarlet rather than red.
- I. geniculata, a native of Japan, was first introduced into this country in 1894 by Dr. Charles S. Sargent of the Arnold Arboretum.
This plant resembles the two preceding species but differs in its narrower, more pointed leaves and long, slender fruit stalks. Drupes are brilliant red.
- Finetootb holly (serrata) is native to Japan. This species develops into a tall, well-shaped shrub 6-8′ tall. Leaves are dull green above, sharply serrulate on the margins, and densely pubescent beneath. Few hollies are more fully fruited, and although the individual drupes are small, their rich red color makes fine-tooth one of our finest ornamental shrubs.
- I. Amelanchier (also known as dubia) is a shrub or small tree native from Virginia to Georgia and Louisiana. It has blunt, oblong, leathery leaves and large scarlet drupes borne on long, thread-like stalks.
- Georgia holly (bugipes)—a little-known species that ranges from Virginia and Tennessee to Florida and Louisiana—is tall and thin with elliptic to lanceolate leaves. Both male and female flowers develop in long stalks, and the large globose fruits are bright red.
- Possum haw (decidua) is the most spectacular deciduous holly in many ways. It is a tall shrub (up to 30′ feet) found in the low woods and bottomlands from Maryland to Florida and Texas.
The globose drupes of luminous scarlet are borne in great profusion and persist throughout the winter when not eaten by a voracious bird.
- Mountain holly (Montana) formerly called monticola, is one of the most tree-like deciduous hollies and may grow 3-5 40′ high. It is found in rich, wooded upland slopes from New York to Georgia and Alabama.
The large membranaceous leaves are glossy above and smooth or pubescent beneath. Drupes, which are orange-red or scarlet, make a fine show in autumn against a background of lustrous foliage.
44659 by John M. Fogg Jr.