American Holly (Ilex opaca)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Aquifoliales Family: Aquifoliaceae Genus: Ilex Species: I. opaca
Binomial name
Ilex opaca

American holly (Ilex opaca) is a small to medium broadleaved evergreen tree in the family Aquifoliaceae. The edges of the stiff leaves are curled into several sharp, spike-like points. It has characteristic small red berries that persist into winter. It is native to the eastern and central United States where it typically grows as an understory tree in forests. American holly in winter Image taken by me, released under GFDL Pollinator 20:41, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... For other uses, see Plant (disambiguation). ... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of land plants. ... Orders See text. ... Families Aquifoliaceae Helwingiaceae Phyllonomaceae The Aquifoliales are an order of flowering plants, including most notably the Aquifoliaceae, or holly family. ... Genera  Ilex - Holly  Nemopanthus - Mountain holly Aquifoliaceae is a small plant family with two genera, by far the best-known being Ilex, the hollies, a large genus with about 600 species distributed nearly world-wide, absent only from Australasia and western North America. ... This article is about the plant type. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Genera  Ilex - Holly  Nemopanthus - Mountain holly Aquifoliaceae is a small plant family with two genera, by far the best-known being Ilex, the hollies, a large genus with about 600 species distributed nearly world-wide, absent only from Australasia and western North America. ... Several types of berries from the market. ... Understory (or understorey) is the term for the area of a forest which grows in the shade of the overstory or canopy. ...

The berries are reputedly poisonous to humans, but are important survival food for birds, who will eat the berries after other food sources are exhausted. The tree also forms a thick canopy which offers protection for birds from predators and storms. Songbirds including thrushes, mockingbirds, catbirds, bluebirds and thrashers frequently feed on the berries. The skull and crossbones symbol (Jolly Roger) traditionally used to label a poisonous substance. ... For other uses, see Bird (disambiguation). ... This snapping turtle is trying to make a meal of a Canada goose, but the goose is too wary. ... A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Oscines of Passeriformes (ca. ... Genera 22 genera, see text The Thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur mainly but not exclusively in the Old World. ... Genera Melanotis Mimus Nesomimus Mockingbirds are a group of New World passerine birds from the Mimidae family. ... Binomial name Dumetella carolinensis Linnaeus,, 1766 The Gray Catbird, Dumetella carolinensis, is a medium-sized perching bird of the Mimid family, the only member of genus Dumetella. ... Species Sialia sialis Sialia mexicana Sialia currucoides Mountain Bluebird Western Bluebird The bluebirds are medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the genus Sialia of the thrush family Turdidae. ... Genera Margarops Oreoscoptes Ramphocinclus Toxostoma Thrashers are a New World group of passerine birds related to mockingbirds and New World catbirds. ...

Description

An evergreen tree, from thirty to fifty feet in height, found sparingly in New England and New York, where it is always small. Abundant on the southern coast and in the Gulf states, reaches its greatest size on the bottom lands of southern Arkansas and eastern Texas. The branches are short and slender and the head pyramidal. Roots thick and fleshy. Will grow in both dry and swampy soil, but grows slowly. Juices watery, and contain a bitter principle which possesses tonic properties.

• Bark: Light gray, roughened by excrescenses. Branchlets stout, green at first and covered with rusty down, later smooth and brown.
• Wood: Brown, sapwood paler brown; light, tough, close-grained, susceptible of a brilliant polish, and is used for whip-handles, engraving blocks, and cabinet work. Sp. gr., 0.5818, weight of cu. ft., 36.26 lbs.
• Winter buds: Brown, short, obtuse or acute.
• Leaves: Alternate, evergreen, simple, feather-veined, elliptical or oblong, two to four inches long, wedge-shaped at base, vavy toothed margin with a few spiny teeth, acute at apex; midrib prominent and depressed, primary veins conspicuous. Thick, leathery, yellow green, shining above, often pale yellow beneath. They remain on the branches for three years, finally falling in the spring when pushed off by growing buds. Petioles short, stout, grooved, thickened at base. Stipules minute.
• Flowers: May, June. Diœcious, greenish white, small, both sterile and fertile borne in short pedunculate cymes from the axils of young leaves or scattered along the base of young branches. Sterile clusters three to nin-flowered; fertile clusters one to three-flowered. Peduncles and pedicels hairy with minute bracts at base.
• Calyx: Small, four-lobed, imbricate in the bud, acute, margins ciliate, persistent.
• Corolla: Petals white, four, somewhat united at base, obtuse, spreading, hypogynous, imbricate in bud.
• Stamens: Four, inserted on the base of the corolla, alternate with its lobes; filaments awl-shaped, exserted in the sterile, much shorter in the sterile flower; anthers attached at the back, oblong, introrse, two-celled, cells opening longitudinally.
• Pistils: Ovary superior, four-celled, rudimentary in staminate flowers; style wanting, stigma sessile, four-lobed; ovules one or two in each cell.
• Fruit: Drupaceous, spherical or ovoid, crowned with the remnants of the stigma, one-fourth of an inch across, red, rarely yellow, persistent all winter. Nutlets few, ribbed and veined, nearly triangular.^[1]

Cultivation and use

American holly is dioecious, meaning there are male plants with only male blossoms, and female plants with only female blossoms. As such only female plants produce the characteristic red berries. One male can pollenize several females. Alternatively a male branch can be grafted onto a female plant which can entirely eliminate the need to plant a non-fruiting male tree. Bees are also required, as wind pollination is negligible. Close-up of an Echinopsis spachiana flower, showing both carpels and stamen, making it a complete flower. ... Blossom is a term given to the flowers of stone fruit trees (Genus Prunus) and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely but for a short period of time. ... The words pollenizer (polleniser) and pollinator are often confused. ... For other uses, see Western honey bee and Bee (disambiguation). ... A flower-fly pollinating a Common Daisy (Bellis perennis) Pollination is an important step in the reproduction of seed plants: the transfer of pollen grains (male gametes) to the plant carpel, the structure that contains the ovule (female gamete). ...

Holly is usually propagated by seeds, although young trees can be transplanted in early spring; the seeds do not germinate until the second year.^[1]

American holly is often planted as an ornamental plant, although a slow growing one. There is a winter-hardy hybrid of American Holly called the Grace hybrid, developed in the 1930s and '40s by Orlando S. Pride. Petunia This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Holly is a popular Christmas decoration. In English poetry and English stories the Holly is inseparably connected with the merry-making and greetings which gather around the Christmas tide. The custom is also American, and holly and mistletoe are used for decoration of homes and churches. The European Holly does not grow in the climate of most of the United States, but the American Holly makes an excellent second choice for it closely resembles the European species. The leaves are similar in outline and toothed and bristled very much the same way, but they are a pale green, and although the surface is polished and shining it does not in brilliancy quite equal its European cousin.^[1] Christmas is an annual holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. ... Families Santalaceae (Viscaceae) Loranthaceae Misodendraceae Mistletoe Viscum album is a plant parasitic on the branches of a tree or shrub. ... Binomial name Ilex aquifolium L. The European Holly Ilex aquifolium is a holly native to western and southern Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia. ...

Symbols

The American holly is the state tree of Delaware. In a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. ... This article is about the U.S. State of Delaware. ...

External links

• Top100Plants: American Holly

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Ilex opaca