4 Meriam Street, Ilex opaca, American holly

Ilex opaca

“Deck the halls with boughs of holly” is a familiar traditional yuletide carol that speaks to the beauty of the holly in winter that adds to the celebratory mood of the holidays and New Year.

American holly is an upright, pyramidal evergreen with symmetrical branching sweeping to the ground. The leathery leaves are elliptic–lanceolate in shape with spines that line the edges of the olive-green leaves. Female trees bear red berry-like fruit in autumn that festoon the holly trees in winter. Holly trees are dioecious. The male holly has staminate, pollen-laden flowers in clusters. The female trees have single white pistillate flowers with ovaries. Holly trees flower from late spring to early summer. The female flowers will produce holly berries when fertilized by pollinators. American holly berries color up in late autumn to a dull red on ¼-½” rounded drupes. American holly berries provide winter food for a range of winter birds including wood thrush, cardinals, robins, catbirds, and mockingbirds. The dense spiny foliage provides safe cover from predators for nesting and roosting birds.