Ilex aquifolium, L.

1. I. aquifolium L. View in CoL , Sp. Pl. 125 (1753) View Cited Treatment

(inch I. balearica Desf. ).

Shrub or small tree 2-10 m (up to 24 m in cultivation), glabrous except for puberulent young shoots and inflorescences; bark pale grey. Leaves 5-12 cm, ovate, spinose-acuminate or -cuspidate, 1 -5-3 times as long as wide, dark green and very glossy above, paler and duller beneath, mostly with strongly spinose, undulate margin, but sometimes (commonly on upper branches of old trees, and rarely over most of the plant) flat and entire; petiole short, with a wide, shallow groove. Flowers 8 mm in diameter, in crowded cymes. Vestigial ovary in male flowers small; vestigial stamens in female flowers with full-sized filaments but small anthers; functionally hermaphrodite flowers have been recorded. Fruit 8-10 mm, globose, bright red, usually longer than its pedicel. 2« = 40. 5. & W. Europe, extending north-eastwards to N. Germany and Austria. Al Au Be BI Br Bu Co Da Ga Ge Gr Hb He Ho Hs It Ju Lu No *Rm Sa Si fSu.

Widely cultivated for ornament in all but the coldest parts of Europe; numerous cultivars and hybrids are found in gardens, some of them approaching 2 or 3 in leaf-shape. Wild plants with a large proportion of their leaves entire seem to predominate in S. & E. Spain and the Islas Baléares; they have been mistaken for 3, or distinguished as I. balearica Desf. , Hist. Arb. 2: 362 (1809). They all, however, possess some leaves with at least a few strong, patent, marginal spines, and in all other characters agree with 1.