Alternate name: Christmas Holly Family: Aquifoliaceae, Holly
view all from this family Description Medium-sized broadleaved
pyramidal evergreen. Shorter, multi-trunked form grows in lower-
light conditions. Branches stout, stiff. Bark light-gray. Leaves
dark-green, non-glossy, spine-tipped. New growth pushes off the
old leaves in spring. Bark light gray, roughened by small warty
lumps. Branchlets stout, green; covered with rusty down, later
smooth and brown. Winter buds brown, short, obtuse or acute.
Flowers greenish white, small, borne from the axils of young
leaves or scattered along the base of young branches. Calyx
small, four-lobed, imbricate in the bud, acute, margins ciliate,
persistent. Corolla white, with four petal-like lobes united at
the base, obtuse, spreading, hypogynous, imbricate in bud.
Flower stem hairy with a minute bract at base. Dioecious, with
separate male and female plants; only female plants produce red
berries. One male can pollenize several females. Male flowers
have four stamens, in