Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Ilex aquifolium

Male flowers and leaves. Photographer JC Schou, Denmark

Fruit and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Canberra, ACT

Tree. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, near Belmore Falls near Robertson

Common name

English holly, Common holly, Holly

Family

Aquifoliaceae

Where found

Forest, forest margins, disturbed sites, waste areas, gardens, and along streams. Sydney, Blue Mountains, and the Southern Highlands. Doubtfully naturalised in the ACT.

Notes

Introduced shrub or tree to 15 m high. Young stems hairy, becoming hairless. Fruit fleshy. Leaves usually with spiny teeth. Leaves alternating up the stems, 3–11 cm long, 25–50 mm wide, leathery, upper surface dark green and glossy, lower surface paler and duller, margins wavy, usually with spiny teeth, tips pointed. Leaves on the upper branches of older trees often not spiny, and the margins may be entire. Male and female flowers on different plants. Flowers fragrant, white or pinkish, about 8 mm in diameter, with 4 petals each 2–5 mm long, in 3-flowered clusters (occasionally 1-6), densely arranged into larger clusters. Flowers mostly late spring–summer. Ripe fruit bright red, globular or oval, 6-10 mm in diameter. Fruit poisonous to humans.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Ilex~aquifolium (accessed 19 January, 2021)