Ilex opaca
Ilex opaca, the American holly, is a species of holly, native to the eastern and south-central United States, from coastal Massachusetts south to central Florida, and west to southeastern Missouri and eastern Texas.
Description
Ilex opaca is a medium-sized broadleaved evergreen tree growing on average to wide, and up to tall. Typically, its trunk diameter reaches, sometimes up to. The bark is light gray, roughened by small warty lumps. The branchlets are stout, green at first and covered with rusty down, later smooth and brown. The winter buds are brown, short, obtuse or acute. The branches are short and slender. The roots are thick and fleshy.The leaves are alternate, long and wide, stiff, yellow green and dull matte to sub-shiny above '', often pale yellow beneath; the edges are curved into several sharp, spike-like points, and a wedge-shaped base and acute apex; the midrib is prominent and depressed, the primary veins conspicuous; the petiole is short, stout, grooved, thickened at base, with a pair of minute stipules. The leaves remain on the branches for two to three years, finally falling in the spring when pushed off by growing buds.
Image:Americanholly 8046.JPG|thumb|Ripe fruit
The flowers are greenish white, small, borne in late spring in short pedunculate cymes from the axils of young leaves or scattered along the base of young branches. The calyx is small, four-lobed, imbricate in the bud, acute, margins ciliate, persistent. The corolla is white, with four petal-like lobes united at the base, obtuse, spreading, hypogynous, imbricate in bud. The flower stem is hairy with a minute bract at base. Like all hollies, it is dioecious, with separate male and female plants; only female plants produce the characteristic red berries. This fruit appear late in the season, and whether due to the need to ripen or being a food of last resort, often last until midwinter. They are poisonous to dogs, cats, and humans, often causing diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration, and drowsiness if ingested. Chickens are known to safely eat large amounts of the berries, leading to the fruits commonly being known as "chicken apples." Cedar waxwings will strip the trees of fruit if they are not already bare during their northward migration. One male can pollenize several females. Male flowers have four stamens, inserted on the base of the corolla, alternate with its lobes; filaments awl-shaped, exserted in the sterile, much shorter in the sterile flower; anthers attached at the back, oblong, introrse, two-celled, cells opening longitudinally. The pistil on female flowers has a superior ovary, four-celled, rudimentary in staminate flowers; style wanting, stigma sessile, four-lobed; ovules one or two in each cell.
The fruit is a small red drupe 6–12 mm diameter containing four seeds; it is often persistent into winter.
Image:American Holly Ilex opaca Branch 3008px.jpg|right|thumb|Branch full of ripe fruitA ratio of three female plants to one male plant is required for ideal fruit production.
The current world record American Holly tree is located in Rose Bud, White County, Arkansas. According to the National Forests Champion Trees Official Register, it boasts a trunk circumference of 182 inches, a height of 64 feet, and a crown spread of 63 feet.
Taxonomy
It has four recognized subspecies/variations:- Ilex opaca subsp. arenicola A.E. Murray
- Ilex opaca var. laxiflora Nutt.
- Ilex opaca subsp. opaca
- Ilex opaca var. ''opaca''
Ecology
The flowers are pollinated by insects, including bees, wasps, ants, and night-flying moths. It is a larval host plant for Callophrys henrici. The tree also forms a thick canopy which offers protection for birds from predators and storms. Songbirds including thrushes, mockingbirds, catbirds, bluebirds and thrashers, as well as some gamebirds and mammals frequently feed on the berries.
Cultivation and uses
The wood is very pale, tough, close-grained, takes a good polish, and is used for whip-handles, engraving blocks and also cabinet work. It can also be dyed and used as a substitute for ebony. It has a density of 0.58 to 0.64. The sap is watery, and contains a bitter substance used as an herbal tonic.Leaves from the American holly can be used to make a tea-like beverage. American holly tea does not contain caffeine.
Ornamental plant
Ilex opaca is often cultivated by plant nurseries for use as a broadleaf evergreen ornamental plant, planted as a shrub or slower growing ornamental tree. Over 1,000 cultivars have been selected, including plants selected for cold tolerance, growth form, and color and abundance of fruit. With Ilex cassine it is a parent of the hybrid Ilex × attenuata, which has ornamental cultivars.The holly in winter
Holly is a popular winter Christmas and holiday season decoration. To Christians, the thorny foliage is attributed to the crown of thorns Christ wore, the berries represent his drops of blood, and the evergreen represents life after death. In English poetry and English stories the holly is inseparably connected with the merry-making and greetings which gather around the Christmas time. The custom is followed in North America, and holly and mistletoe are widely used for decoration of homes and churches.The European holly is smaller than the American holly, but is closely related and closely resembles it. The leaves of both species are similar in outline and toothed and bristled very much the same way, but the leaves are brighter in the American holly and larger. The American holly, called the evergreen or Christmas holly was named the state tree of Delaware on 1 May 1939.