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West Virginia Trees

Chapter 105: MOUNTAIN HOLLY
By A. B. Brooks
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Nature/Gardening/Animals

About This Book

A practical field guide to the native and introduced trees of West Virginia, providing keys based mainly on leaves and fruits, concise family and species descriptions, and detailed line drawings for about 101 native species. It organizes trees by botanical families, gives brief flower notes, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for identifying specimens; occasional introduced species and shrubs are noted. The bulletin emphasizes simplicity for non-specialists, offers measurements and habit descriptions for each species, and includes administrative prefatory material. Its aim is to aid lay readers and students in tree identification and to encourage local interest in forestry.

MOUNTAIN HOLLY

Ilex monticola, Gray.

Form.—Height 15-25 feet, diameter 2-8 inches; a shrub or small tree with short trunk and slender ascending branches.

Leaves.—Alternate, simple, deciduous, 4-5 inches long, ovate or lance-oblong, taper-pointed, thin-membranaceous, smooth, sharply serrate.

Flowers.—May-June; polygamo-dioecious; staminate and pistillate flowers on very short pedicels, white, clustered, about one-third of an inch across.

Fruit.—Ripens in early autumn; globose, about two-fifths of an inch in diameter, bright scarlet, containing 4-6 striate nutlets ridged on the back.

Bark.—Thin, somewhat rough and warty on old trees, light brownish-gray.

Wood.—Hard, close-grained, nearly white.

Range.—New York, southward along the Alleghanies.

Distribution in West Virginia.—Not common except locally. Found principally at high altitudes. Common near Davis, Tucker County, and in various parts of Randolph and Pocahontas counties.

Habitat.—Upland sandy flats, cool mountainsides, and swamp borders.

Notes.—This small tree is not important except for ornamental use. Its bright foliage and fruits recommend it for this purpose. The species may easily be confused with Winterberry (Ilex verticillata, (L.) Gray) which often grows with it. The nutlets of the latter, however, are smooth and smaller, its flowers are shorter-stalked and its leaves somewhat downy beneath.