This article is about the plant type. For other uses see Holly (disambiguation)

Holly
English holly
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Aquifoliales Family: Aquifoliaceae Genus: Ilex
Species
Ilex aquifolium - English holly  Ilex cassine - Dahoon holly  Ilex glabra - Gallberry, inkberry  Ilex latifolia - Tarajo holly  Ilex montana - Mountain holly  Ilex opaca - American holly  Ilex paraguariensis - Yerba maté  Ilex vomitoria - Yaupon holly

Hollies are shrubs and trees of the genus Ilex. Many of them are highly decorative. Some have leaves with widely-spaced, spine-tipped leaves, while others have simple leaves.

Holly plants are male and female. Only the female has berries, but requires a male as a pollenizer. Also bees are required as wind pollination is negligible.

American holly
foliage and berries

External links

• image from 'Flora von Deutschland Österreich und der Schweiz' (http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~stueber/thome/band3/tafel_014.html)
• holly at plants for a future (http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Ilex+aquifolium)
• pictures at CalPhotos (http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-genre=Plant&where-taxon=Ilex+aquifolium)