FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Gray bark smooth and often blotched with various lichen species. This is the only Ilex species in North Carolina that grows to a medium-sized tree. All hollies have small black stipules at leaf bases. Fruit is toxic.
Description: Small evergreen understory tree, usually 5 to 10 m.
Leaves: Leathery, dark green, broadly elliptic leaves with wavy edges and scattered spines along margins.
Flowers/Fruit: Small, white, 4-petaled flowers appear in late May; trees have either male (with stamens) or female flowers (without stamens). Blooms April to June; fruits September/October. Small red fruits on female trees last through winter.
Habit and Range: Wide variety of forests, from dry to wetland, but it grows best in moist soil. Less numerous at high elevations in the Mountains, but common throughout the state.
