|American Holly - Ilex opaca 'Shannon Chiles'|
Family Aquifoliaceae – Holly & Winterberry
This outstanding holly cultivar is known for its bri red berries and deep green foliage.
When the Pilgrims landed the week before Christmas in 1620 on the coast of what is now Massachusetts, the evergreen, prickly leaves and red berries of American holly reminded them of the English holly (Ilex aquifolium). The use of Holly as a symbolic winter decoration, with its shiny, prickly leaves and blood-red berries, goes back in history to the Celtic peoples of Northern Europe, who decorated their homes with it during the time of the winter solstice, or Yule.
Since then, American holly, also called white holly or Christmas holly, has been one of the most valuable and popular trees in the Eastern United States for its foliage and berries, used for Christmas decorations and for ornamental plantings.
American holly, English holly (Ilex aquifolium), and winterberry (I. verticillata) are all species having male and female flowers borne on separate plants (dioecious). Pollen transfer from a male to a female plant is known as cross-pollination, usually accomplished by insects including bees, wasps, ants, yellowjackets, and night-flying moths. If a holly plant fails to produce berries, it is either a male, or an unfertilized female plant. To insure good berry production, it is suggested at least one male plant for every three females be planted within 200 feet.
Commercial holly production often relies on rented honeybees for the cross-pollination required for the female plants to produce fruit. The current crisis in the beekeeping world due to colony collapse disorder may put a dent in holly availability.
The greatest damage to holly trees is indiscriminate harvesting of foliage with berries for Christmas decorating. Before laws were passed in Maryland and Delaware to protect the holly, there was a "roadside" market for holly vandalized from trees that did not belong to harvesters. Trees were left mutilated and many died. Fire is another deadly enemy of American holly. Most commercial pine timberland is burned often enough to eliminate holly seedlings or sprouts, especially where livestock graze. Burning where hollies are in the midstory can seriously damage the bark and kill trees. Three annual fires in a southern pine forest reduced the number of fruit-producing holly trees by 95 percent .
1. H.E. Grelen, USDA Forest Service Silvics manual Vol 2, 'Ilex opaca Ait. American Holly.'
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