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that can be fashioned into Christmas wreaths and sprays. Our native American holly (I. opaca) is very similar, though less frequently used in commerce.
American hollies are common understory plants in most forest types in the county, and will be obvious even to the most casual observer this time of year.
We tend to think of all hollies as evergreen, but most of the holly species in the county are deciduous, and they can be just as spectacular. One of these is Ilex verticillata, the winterberry or black-alder. Here’s a good example of dueling common names, and makes a compelling case for not using common names at all for plants. This native holly is common along streams and low woods throughout its range; wetland biologists use it as an indicator species for wetland delineation. In habitats with sufficient light it produces brilliant sprays of bright red berry-like drupes along stems that eventually lose their leaves, so that in winter it seems to beckon from a distance. A stunning cluster of these hollies can be seen at the entrance to Bruce and Susan Jones’ place on Long Mountain Road.
But are these bejeweled stems really beckoning us? Probably not. It’s more likely they are beckoning seed dispersers, especially birds that are attracted to the red color of these and other fall and winter fruits — think of native species in Euonymous, Sorbus, Lindera, Amelanchier, Comus, etc. and aliens such as species of Celastrus and Berberis. The persistent field naturalist will eventuaily be rewarded with a sighting of many different kinds of birds feeding on these fruits.
For example, we have seen hermit thrushes, Cedar waxwings and bluebirds. We have discovered that clusters of fruiting trees and shrubs are not only attractive to us and the
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