1. Ilex L. (holly)
Plants
dioecious, shrubs or small to medium-sized trees. Leaves alternate (in some
species sometimes appearing fascicled on short spur shoots), simple,
short-petiolate, the margins of the blades usually toothed. Flowers small,
short-stalked, in small, axillary clusters, occasionally solitary, hypogynous.
Calyx 4–8-lobed, persistent under the fruit. Corolla deeply 4–8-lobed (sometimes
appearing as distinct petals), white to greenish white, the lobes rounded,
spreading, the tips sometimes reflexed. Stamens 4–8, fused to the base of the
corolla, the pistillate flowers with staminodes similar in appearance to
stamens, but smaller. Pistil 1 per flower, of 2–5(–9) fused carpels, in
staminate flowers reduced to a minute protuberance. Ovary superior, with 2–5(–9)
locules. Style absent or minute. Stigma capitate to disk-shaped, often
shallowly 2–5(–9)-lobed. Fruits berrylike drupes, globose, usually bright red
at maturity (rarely yellow or brown), with 2–10 nutlets, each containing 1 seed
in a hard coating, these more or less wedge-shaped, white to light yellow or
light tan. About 400 species, nearly worldwide.
Most species of Ilex
retain their mature fruits through the winter months and many species thus
provide important winter food for birds. However, the berries reputedly are
poisonous to humans (Steyermark, 1963). The leaves of several species have been
used for teas.