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. They are shrubs and small trees, including both evergreen and deciduous species. Many of them are highly decorative.
The other genus, Nemopanthus, only contains one species, Nemopanthus mucronatus, which differs from Ilex in the flowers having a reduced calyx and narrow petals, and also in cytology, being tetraploid, whereas Ilex is diploid.
However, the genus Nemopanthus occurs in eastern North America, and it's pollen is similar to that of Ilex, although the sculpturing elements seem smaller in comparison to the size of the grain.
The Aquifoliaceae is a cosmopolitan plantfamily of about 400 species in 3 genera.
Punt, W. and Schmitz, M.B. Aquifoliaceae, The Northwest European Pollen Flora, 26.
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