By Sue Crowley, executive director

“Deck the hall with boughs of holly…   Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la! “  

American Holly and European or English Holly have such beautiful and rich green colors with the bright red berries to add holiday flair.  Hollies are scientifically found in the genus, Ilex, with American Holly named Ilex opaca and English Holly dubbed Ilex aquifolium.   These plants are broadleaf evergreens with white flowers that have green centers.  As the flowers mature in the growing season they give way to the iconic red berries.  The evergreen leaves are replaced roughly every three years. Holly plants are either male or female (dioecious =having two houses) and the male pollen needs to fertilize the female plants where the berries are produced.  And guess what, the berries are technically not berries but drupes.  A berry is defined as a fleshy, simple fruit without a stone or a core.  A drupe is defined as a fleshy simple fruit with a central stone containing the seed. Other examples of drupes are cherries and peaches.  I won’t go any further on the drupe and berry explanations because then that leads us into discussions such as… did you know that bananas are berries.

The cultural histories of these two plants are quite interesting.  They were used in winter celebrations, and Druids brought branches into their homes to protect against winter maladies. Holly has also been used as a protector against evil. And while it is completely acceptable to prune branches from these trees and shrubs, much like Hawthorne trees, cutting the whole tree down may bring bad luck!  It was only much later that Christians morphed the tales of holly and used them in the holiday season.

Of note, however, the American Holly’s range is primarily in southeastern United States, with some areas found on the northeast coasts.  The English Holly is now grown commercially in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.  Wisconsin is the home to Ilex verticillium better known as Winterberry.  This plant is not an evergreen broadleaf, as the plants noted above are.  So, it does not get the holiday attention that the other hollies do. However, it does produce wonderful red berries-yes technically drupes, that provide lovely winter color, as well as forage for many birds. It also has male and female plants.  The plants must be 3 to 5 years old before we can determine the sex of an individual plant.  The one- and one-half inch to four-inch-long leaves are deciduous and not thick, leathery or spiney as the favored Holiday Hollies. The fruits are poisonous to humans, but the drupes are eaten by Cedar Waxwings, Gray Catbirds, Brown Thrashers and White Throated Sparrows, to name just a few.  The berries tend to soften up as the winter season progresses.

Winterberry shrubs grow from 5 to 15 feet tall. The dense branches grow in a zig-zag pattern. They populate wet or boggy areas and can tolerate a fair bit of shade. They are found in the Woodland Dunes’ swales and ridges complex. 

So, as you celebrate the season, be mindful of the beautiful hollies that may be protecting you from some evil and bad vibes or perhaps feeding the hungry birds!

Oh yeah and Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!