European Holly
Encyclopedia
Ilex aquifolium, holly, or european holly, is a species of holly
native to western and southern Europe
, northwest Africa
and southwest Asia
.
It is a dioecious tree or shrub found, for example, in shady areas of forests of oak and in beech hedges. It has a great capacity to adapt to different conditions and is a pioneer species that repopulates the margins of forests or clearcuts.
As a tree
, it can exceed 10 m in height. It is usually found as a shrub or a small tree about 6 or 7 feet tall with a straight trunk
and pyramidal crown, which branches from the base. It is slow growing and it does not usually fully mature due to grazing, cutting, or fire. It can live 500 years, but usually does not reach 100. The old trees are scarce. It originated in southern and south western Europe, from where it spread to the central and western Europe, the North Sea
and Australia
.
The toxicity of the fruit necessitates care when handling. Toxins include among others, alkaloids, caffeine
and theobromine
.
The seeds are spread by blackbirds and other thrushes, pigeons, robins, warblers, etc. Toxins from the fruits are not harmful to birds. After the first frost of the season, the fruit becomes soft and falls to the ground serving as important food for winter birds. This evergreen tree with its thorny leaves is a popular place for smaller birds to roost in the winter.
It has great ecological value because it is a rugged pioneer species that preserves and enriches the soil facilitating colonization by others. It is of great value to birds and other fauna, including invertebrates that feed on their fruits and disperse their seeds. It is an ecological indicator of a well-preserved area, slightly degraded or recovering. Where a population of hollies thrives, it is indicative of an area with little human intrusion. They are usually found in isolated communities and remote areas. It prefers relatively moist areas, up to 600 m in height. It supports Mediterranean summer drought and frost. The plant is common in the garrigue and maquis. It appears in deciduous forest and oak forest.
It has a gray trunk and can have several trunks or stems when grown as a shrub. It usually reaches 5 m in height, although in rare cases can reach 25 m if it has enough time to grow. It can be found in meso- and thermo floors, to 1,500 meters. It prefers moisture and resists cold. It requires a sunny position and is more abundant in average soils, tolerating the salty and slightly chalky, growing at the bottom of gorges and steep rocky slopes. Pure stands of hollies can grow into a labyrinth of vaults in which thrush
es, and deer
take refuge. The fact that it bears fruit in winter gives this plant a very important ecological value, being a good food source for many species, especially birds, at a time of scarce resources. These same fruits are considered purgative and emetic to humans.
It is an evergreen
tree
growing to 10–25 m tall and 40–80 cm, rarely 1 m or more, trunk diameter, with smooth grey bark. The leaves
are 5–12 cm long and 2–6 cm broad, variable in shape; on young plants and low branches, with three to five sharp spines on each side, pointing alternately upward and downward; on higher branches of older trees with few or no spines except for the leaf tip, often entire.
It is a tertiary laurel forest
relict species, when the european climate was cooler and wetter.
It grows in full sun in northern regions. Holly prefers partial shade and soil with good drainage and acid. Live in different types of soils and can withstand even relatively dry climates. Cold tolerant and likes humidity. In cold winters can freeze some branches.
Its woody stem, has gray bark. It has smooth bark throughout its life. At first the bark is a greenish color and from the second or third year is taking a definite dark gray. Its shiny leaves with spiny edge, are evergreen, dark green on the upper surface and lighter on the underside, elliptical, leathery and about 5 to 9 cm long. Its leaves are persistent, simple, petiolate
s, alternate, oval shaped, with a hard edge prickly in the young and the lower limbs in adults, lacking spines of leaf
s of the upper branches. Last about five years and are very bright green and yellow-green on the underside, totally hairless, very stiff and leathery.
Is a tree dioecious
, ie, there are male plants and female plants. The females are those that produce berry-shaped fruits that mature turning red, if there are male plants near to fertilize. The germination of the seeds of holly is very irregular because it requires that the plants of both genders.
The flower
s are dioecious
, white, four-lobed, and pollinated by bees. The fruit
is a red drupe
6–10 mm diameter, containing four pits; although mature in late autumn, they are very bitter due to the ilicin content, and so are rarely touched by bird
s until late winter after frost
has made them softer and more palatable. Unable to determine the sex until the plants begin flowering, when having 4 to 12 years old. In male specimens, the flowers appear in axillary groups yellowish. In the female, isolated or in groups of three and are small and white or slightly pink, and consist of four petals and four sepals partially fused at the base.
Male and female flowers on different plant foot, small white, born from the axils of the leaves solitary or in clusters. Female specimens produce a fleshy fruit (drupe
), a bright red or bright yellow, which matures very late, around October or November, and remains long in the tree, often throughout the winter. The red berry fruit is of the size of a pea. The fruits ripen in autumn and feed them rodents, herbivores and birds. For fruits that can germinate is necessary to have a male and one female for being a dioecious plant. Germination in this species does not occur until a year later, after growing very slowly. Contains within 4 or 5 "bones" (seed
), which do not germinate until the second year, if ingested by a bird as the Blackbird. It flows well and poorly strain in the bud.
The fruits, red and fleshy, are typical of winter because this is precisely the ripening season. The fruits reach the crimson color typically in October and remain so during the cold months, which makes them a vital food source for forest animals. They are poisonous for human consumption.
Native in the countries of the Mediterranean, it is now a protected species in some parts of Europe due to wild predation as Christmas decoration.
Holly is found in western Asia
and Europe
in the undergrowth of oak
forest and beech
forest in particular. Although at times it can form a dense thicket as the dominant species. As always requires moist, shady environments, it grows within the forest or in shady slopes, cliffs and mountain gorges. Amounts to more than 2000 meters and always fresh, loose soil, preferably silica. : Ilex aquifolium']
The laurel forest
covered great areas of the Earth, during the Tertiary. This type of forest extended during the Cenozoic or Tertiary Era, more than 20 million years ago, over a wide area of the basin of the Mediterranean, Eurasia and north-west Africa where the climate the region were wetter. The laurisilva
s forests was the vegetation
type which originally covered much of Europe, and the Holly was a tipical representative species of laurel forest habitats, where many current species of the genus Ilex are present. With the drying of the Mediterranean Basin
during the Pliocene
, the laurel forest
s gradually retreated, replaced by more drought
-tolerant sclerophyll
plant communities. The modern european Ilex aquifolium resulted from this change. Most of the last remaining laurisilva forests around the Mediterranean are believed to have disappeared approximately 10,000 years ago at the end of the Pleistocene
.
Ilex aquifolium is used as a landscape tree in gardens in the West Coast of the United States
. It is an invasive species
on the West Coast of the United States
and Hawaii
.
Holly is rarely used medicinally due to its toxicity, but is diuretic
, relieves fevers and has a laxative
action.
It contains saponins, the xanthine
theobromine
and a yellow pigment, ilexanthin.
Holly
Ilex) is a genus of 400 to 600 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. The species are evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs, and climbers from tropics to temperate zones world wide....
native to western and southern Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, northwest Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and southwest Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
.
Overview
Holly, or European holly to distinguish it from related species, is also called Christmas holly or Mexican holly.It is a dioecious tree or shrub found, for example, in shady areas of forests of oak and in beech hedges. It has a great capacity to adapt to different conditions and is a pioneer species that repopulates the margins of forests or clearcuts.
As a tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
, it can exceed 10 m in height. It is usually found as a shrub or a small tree about 6 or 7 feet tall with a straight trunk
Trunk (botany)
In botany, trunk refers to the main wooden axis of a tree that supports the branches and is supported by and directly attached to the roots. The trunk is covered by the bark, which is an important diagnostic feature in tree identification, and which often differs markedly from the bottom of the...
and pyramidal crown, which branches from the base. It is slow growing and it does not usually fully mature due to grazing, cutting, or fire. It can live 500 years, but usually does not reach 100. The old trees are scarce. It originated in southern and south western Europe, from where it spread to the central and western Europe, the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
.
The toxicity of the fruit necessitates care when handling. Toxins include among others, alkaloids, caffeine
Caffeine
Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant drug. Caffeine is found in varying quantities in the seeds, leaves, and fruit of some plants, where it acts as a natural pesticide that paralyzes and kills certain insects feeding on the plants...
and theobromine
Theobromine
Theobromine , also known as xantheose, is a bitter alkaloid of the cacao plant, with the chemical formula C7H8N4O2. It is found in chocolate, as well as in a number of other foods, including the leaves of the tea plant, and the kola nut...
.
The seeds are spread by blackbirds and other thrushes, pigeons, robins, warblers, etc. Toxins from the fruits are not harmful to birds. After the first frost of the season, the fruit becomes soft and falls to the ground serving as important food for winter birds. This evergreen tree with its thorny leaves is a popular place for smaller birds to roost in the winter.
It has great ecological value because it is a rugged pioneer species that preserves and enriches the soil facilitating colonization by others. It is of great value to birds and other fauna, including invertebrates that feed on their fruits and disperse their seeds. It is an ecological indicator of a well-preserved area, slightly degraded or recovering. Where a population of hollies thrives, it is indicative of an area with little human intrusion. They are usually found in isolated communities and remote areas. It prefers relatively moist areas, up to 600 m in height. It supports Mediterranean summer drought and frost. The plant is common in the garrigue and maquis. It appears in deciduous forest and oak forest.
It has a gray trunk and can have several trunks or stems when grown as a shrub. It usually reaches 5 m in height, although in rare cases can reach 25 m if it has enough time to grow. It can be found in meso- and thermo floors, to 1,500 meters. It prefers moisture and resists cold. It requires a sunny position and is more abundant in average soils, tolerating the salty and slightly chalky, growing at the bottom of gorges and steep rocky slopes. Pure stands of hollies can grow into a labyrinth of vaults in which thrush
Thrush
-Birds:* Thrush , any of the many birds in the Turdidae family* Antthrush, any of a group of birds within the Formicariidae family* Dohrn's Thrush-babbler , a species of bird in the Timalidae family...
es, and deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
take refuge. The fact that it bears fruit in winter gives this plant a very important ecological value, being a good food source for many species, especially birds, at a time of scarce resources. These same fruits are considered purgative and emetic to humans.
Description
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...
growing to 10–25 m tall and 40–80 cm, rarely 1 m or more, trunk diameter, with smooth grey bark. The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are 5–12 cm long and 2–6 cm broad, variable in shape; on young plants and low branches, with three to five sharp spines on each side, pointing alternately upward and downward; on higher branches of older trees with few or no spines except for the leaf tip, often entire.
It is a tertiary laurel forest
Laurel forest
Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterized by tree species with evergreen, glossy, enlongated leaves, known as laurophyll or lauroide...
relict species, when the european climate was cooler and wetter.
It grows in full sun in northern regions. Holly prefers partial shade and soil with good drainage and acid. Live in different types of soils and can withstand even relatively dry climates. Cold tolerant and likes humidity. In cold winters can freeze some branches.
Its woody stem, has gray bark. It has smooth bark throughout its life. At first the bark is a greenish color and from the second or third year is taking a definite dark gray. Its shiny leaves with spiny edge, are evergreen, dark green on the upper surface and lighter on the underside, elliptical, leathery and about 5 to 9 cm long. Its leaves are persistent, simple, petiolate
Petiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...
s, alternate, oval shaped, with a hard edge prickly in the young and the lower limbs in adults, lacking spines of leaf
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
s of the upper branches. Last about five years and are very bright green and yellow-green on the underside, totally hairless, very stiff and leathery.
Is a tree dioecious
Dioecious
Dioecy is the property of a group of biological organisms that have males and females, but not members that have organs of both sexes at the same time. I.e., those whose individual members can usually produce only one type of gamete; each individual organism is thus distinctly female or male...
, ie, there are male plants and female plants. The females are those that produce berry-shaped fruits that mature turning red, if there are male plants near to fertilize. The germination of the seeds of holly is very irregular because it requires that the plants of both genders.
The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are dioecious
Dioecious
Dioecy is the property of a group of biological organisms that have males and females, but not members that have organs of both sexes at the same time. I.e., those whose individual members can usually produce only one type of gamete; each individual organism is thus distinctly female or male...
, white, four-lobed, and pollinated by bees. The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
is a red drupe
Drupe
In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...
6–10 mm diameter, containing four pits; although mature in late autumn, they are very bitter due to the ilicin content, and so are rarely touched by bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s until late winter after frost
Frost
Frost is the solid deposition of water vapor from saturated air. It is formed when solid surfaces are cooled to below the dew point of the adjacent air as well as below the freezing point of water. Frost crystals' size differ depending on time and water vapour available. Frost is also usually...
has made them softer and more palatable. Unable to determine the sex until the plants begin flowering, when having 4 to 12 years old. In male specimens, the flowers appear in axillary groups yellowish. In the female, isolated or in groups of three and are small and white or slightly pink, and consist of four petals and four sepals partially fused at the base.
Male and female flowers on different plant foot, small white, born from the axils of the leaves solitary or in clusters. Female specimens produce a fleshy fruit (drupe
Drupe
In botany, a drupe is a fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries...
), a bright red or bright yellow, which matures very late, around October or November, and remains long in the tree, often throughout the winter. The red berry fruit is of the size of a pea. The fruits ripen in autumn and feed them rodents, herbivores and birds. For fruits that can germinate is necessary to have a male and one female for being a dioecious plant. Germination in this species does not occur until a year later, after growing very slowly. Contains within 4 or 5 "bones" (seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
), which do not germinate until the second year, if ingested by a bird as the Blackbird. It flows well and poorly strain in the bud.
The fruits, red and fleshy, are typical of winter because this is precisely the ripening season. The fruits reach the crimson color typically in October and remain so during the cold months, which makes them a vital food source for forest animals. They are poisonous for human consumption.
Distribution
Holly is a very ancient species. Before the glaciers, the Holly occupied almost all of Europe, when Europe had a more humid and warmer climate. After the glacial period, the climate of Europa was made more unstable and seasonal, with hot dry summers and colder winters. Holly managed to adapt to this new climate and colder environments. The habitat of Holly today is in addition to humid Mediterranean areas, the Atlantic temperate zones of Europe and North Africa mountain.Native in the countries of the Mediterranean, it is now a protected species in some parts of Europe due to wild predation as Christmas decoration.
Holly is found in western Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in the undergrowth of oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
forest and beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
forest in particular. Although at times it can form a dense thicket as the dominant species. As always requires moist, shady environments, it grows within the forest or in shady slopes, cliffs and mountain gorges. Amounts to more than 2000 meters and always fresh, loose soil, preferably silica. : Ilex aquifolium']
The laurel forest
Laurel forest
Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterized by tree species with evergreen, glossy, enlongated leaves, known as laurophyll or lauroide...
covered great areas of the Earth, during the Tertiary. This type of forest extended during the Cenozoic or Tertiary Era, more than 20 million years ago, over a wide area of the basin of the Mediterranean, Eurasia and north-west Africa where the climate the region were wetter. The laurisilva
Laurisilva
Laurisilva or laurissilva is a subtropical forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterised by evergreen, glossy-leaved tree species that look alike with leaves of lauroide type...
s forests was the vegetation
Vegetation
Vegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
type which originally covered much of Europe, and the Holly was a tipical representative species of laurel forest habitats, where many current species of the genus Ilex are present. With the drying of the Mediterranean Basin
Messinian salinity crisis
The Messinian Salinity Crisis, also referred to as the Messinian Event, and in its latest stage as the Lago Mare event, was a geological event during which the Mediterranean Sea went into a cycle of partly or nearly complete desiccation throughout the latter part of the Messinian age of the Miocene...
during the Pliocene
Pliocene
The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
, the laurel forest
Laurel forest
Laurel forest is a subtropical or mild temperate forest, found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable and mild temperatures. They are characterized by tree species with evergreen, glossy, enlongated leaves, known as laurophyll or lauroide...
s gradually retreated, replaced by more drought
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
-tolerant sclerophyll
Sclerophyll
Sclerophyll is the term for a type of vegetation that has hard leaves and short internodes . The word comes from the Greek sclero and phyllon ....
plant communities. The modern european Ilex aquifolium resulted from this change. Most of the last remaining laurisilva forests around the Mediterranean are believed to have disappeared approximately 10,000 years ago at the end of the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
.
Miscellaneous
Holly berries are somewhat toxic to humans, though their poisonous properties are overstated and fatalities almost unknown.Ilex aquifolium is used as a landscape tree in gardens in the West Coast of the United States
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
. It is an invasive species
Invasive species
"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....
on the West Coast of the United States
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
and Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
.
Holly is rarely used medicinally due to its toxicity, but is diuretic
Diuretic
A diuretic provides a means of forced diuresis which elevates the rate of urination. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics increase the excretion of water from bodies, although each class does so in a distinct way.- Medical uses :...
, relieves fevers and has a laxative
Laxative
Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...
action.
It contains saponins, the xanthine
Xanthine
Xanthine , is a purine base found in most human body tissues and fluids and in other organisms. A number of stimulants are derived from xanthine, including caffeine and theobromine....
theobromine
Theobromine
Theobromine , also known as xantheose, is a bitter alkaloid of the cacao plant, with the chemical formula C7H8N4O2. It is found in chocolate, as well as in a number of other foods, including the leaves of the tea plant, and the kola nut...
and a yellow pigment, ilexanthin.