The most widely recognized native holly is Ilex opaca, or American holly. Growing to 50 feet, the evergreen leaves have sharp-pointed tips and spiny-toothed margins. Pale trunks stand out in the landscape on single or multi-trunked specimens.

Yellowish white, small flowers bloom in spring and provide an early source of nectar for bees, ants, wasps, and night-flying moths. If the tree is a female and a male tree is nearby for pollination, bright red, orange, or sometimes yellow berries shine in the winter woods. These colorful berries are eaten by at least 18 species of birds, including many songbirds, mourning doves, wild turkeys, and northern bobwhite. Henry’s elfin butterfly and the striped hairstreak lay their eggs on American holly, for it is their larval plant. In addition, some mammals, including opossums and raccoons, eat holly berries. Cattle and deer have been known to browse the foliage.

Though the largest trees are found in rich, slightly acidic bottomlands, they are adapted to a wide variety of conditions. They can be found on sandhills, dry, gravely soils farther inland, or thin mountain soils up to an elevation of about 3,000 feet. Truly a plant for the humid Southeast, Ilex opaca is hardy in Zones 6 to 9 and grows in acid, rich or poor, wet, moist or dry soil. Salt tolerance makes it desirable for those who live near bodies of salt water or where salt-water intrusion is a problem.

In nature, native plants grow in plant communities or associations. American holly is at home under native canopy trees and in the company of musclewood, pawpaw, sourgum, flowering dogwood, blueberries and huckleberries, titi, redbay, sweetbay, and hawthorns. In home landscapes, they are best planted at the edge of woodlands or in a place where some protection is offered from the worst of summer’s sun. A naturally mulched area some distance from the house might be best. The spiny leaves carpet the ground under the trees and make walking barefoot under it an impossibility.