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mere are wu species in an. in tne u.s>. alone there are 14 different hollies. Some of these are deciduous, without the glossy evergreen leaves we all associate with Ilex opaca, also known as the Christmas Holly.
What would Christmas be without redberried sprigs of holly? At one time collecting holly for sale a‘ Christmas became a problem. It was a common practice to poach holly on private land and sell it in cities. I know of none of this today. The holly continues to be a dominant tree in the Virginia woods and is a common understory tree; a tree like dogwoods and viburnums that thrives in the shade of oaks and maples.
All hollies are dioecious, (pronounced Dl-eeshus). It is a pleasure to learn a few botanical terms and toss them out to impress friends. Dioecious means that male and female flowers, small and greenish white, are borne on separate trees. Only the tree with female flowers produces bright red berries. These female flowers have pistils, the female part of a bloom; they also have stamens, male parts of a flower, but they are sterile.
That is interesting, I think. What is evolution up to? Male flowers have functioning stamens, of course, and these produce pollen that in all probability is carried to the females by wind since the flowers lack nectar and bright, showy flowers to attract insect pollinators. This may be open to question. What do we know of what attracts insects to flowers?
It is likely that female holly flowers are pollinated by both wind and insects. Certainly the frequency of Ilex opaca in the woods would indicate that some efficient pollinators are at work.
The American holly is notoriously difficult to transplant from the woods; it is also hard to grow from seeds. The diaries of George Washington reveal that this was one of his favorite trees and he worked hard to transplant them from the woods to Mount Vernon. Rarely was he successful until he received — on March 28, 1786 from Colonel “Lighthorse Harry” Lee, father of Robert E. Lee — a number of small
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