GENERAL:

This is the holly we associate with Christmas.  The first settlers found it similar to the English holly, so it was familiar to them.  The wood is used in carving and woodworking small objects.

Folk medicine treats colds with holly root tea.  Often boiled with pine tops and leafy holly twigs, the liquid is used to cure coughs.  Holly berries are supposed to be poisonous.

The name of the variety arenicola means "grows in a sandy place."  It is only found in a very limited area of scrubs from Marion to Highlands Counties.  Though it is not listed as an endangered species, it is quite scarce.  As more scrubs make way for housing developments, shopping centers and parking lots, most scrub species will be added to the threatened or endangered list.

FLOWERS / FRUIT:

The tiny white, 4 petaled flowers are dioecious, that is male and female flowers on different trees; males in clusters, females single or in pairs.

The fruit is a round, red drupe born in small clusters in the leaf axils

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Ilex opaca  (EYE-leks  o-PAY-ka)*

LEAVES / STEMS:

The stiff, glossy leaves from 3.5 – 10 cm. (1.5 – 4 in.) have several pointed tips, but occasionally only 1, each tipped with a sharp spine.  The leaves of the variety arenicola are smaller, curled and held more upright, typical of many scrub plants.  These are adaptations to conserve moisture.

The bark is smooth and gray, often splotched with crustose lichens.

DISTRIBUTION:

It ranges from Massachusetts, southward to north central Florida and west to Indiana and Texas.  The range of the variety arenicola is very limited; found only in scrubs along the ancient sand ridge from Marion to Highlands Counties.