Holly Family (Aquifoliaceae)

Most hollies are dioecious, meaning a plant is either a male (staminate) or a female (pistillate). Holly flowers have radial symmetry, and are four-merous, that is, the flowers are round and floral parts occur in fours. Holly flowers have four sepals, four petals, four stamens (male flowers), and an ovary made up of four fused carpels, called a pistil (female flowers).

The fruit is a drupe, which is similar to a berry, but with hard seeds instead of soft seeds, and may be red, orange, yellow, or black in color. The drupes of Ilex spp. are eaten by wildlife, especially birds. Bird droppings effectively Blue angel holly. Photograph by James Sikkema. Reproduced by permission. disperse holly seeds, which pass through the bird's digestive tract undamaged. Indeed, hollies are often seen sprouting along fence rows and under other places where birds roost. Holly leaves may also be a source of food for wildlife, as they are sometimes grazed by deer.

Hollies may be evergreen or deciduous, depending on whether a species retains its foliage throughout the year or loses its leaves in the fall. One of the more spectacular of the deciduous hollies is winterberry (Ilex verticillata). Occurring in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada, winterberry is well known and loved for its crimson colored berries, which provide a stark contrast to the white landscape of winter. Holly leaves are alternate, occurring one at a time on alternating sides of a branch. Leaves are simple (as opposed to compound), and leaf margins may be entire, wavy, or spiny.