Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Aquifoliales > Aquifoliaceae > Ilex > Ilex opaca

Ilex opaca (American holly)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Ilex opaca, the American holly, is a species of holly, native to the eastern and south-central United States, from coastal Massachusetts south to central Florida, and west to southeastern Missouri and eastern Texas.
View Wikipedia Record: Ilex opaca

Infraspecies

Ilex opaca var. acuminata
Ilex opaca var. arenicola
Ilex opaca var. globosa
Ilex opaca var. latifolia
Ilex opaca var. macrodon
Ilex opaca var. opaca

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  Low
Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-High
Carbon Capture [1]  Low
Screening - Summer [2]  Dense
Screening - Winter [2]  Dense
Shade Percentage [1]  81 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  Low
Wind Reduction [1]  Medium-Low
Bloom Period [2]  Mid Spring
Drought Tolerance [2]  Medium
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  Low
Flower Type [3]  Dioecious
Frost Free Days [2]  4 months 20 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  Low
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Summer
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Fall
Growth Form [2]  Single Stem
Growth Period [2]  Spring, Summer
Growth Rate [2]  Slow
Hazards [3]  Although no specific reports of toxicity have been seen for this species, the fruits of at least some members of this genus contain saponins and are slightly toxic. They can cause vomiting, diarrhoea and stupor if eaten in quantity; The fruits can cause violent vomiting;
Janka Hardness [4]  1020 lbf (463 kgf) Soft
Leaf Type [3]  Evergreen
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Pollinators [3]  Bees
Propagation [2]  Bare Root, Container, Cutting, Seed
Root Depth [2]  30 inches (76 cm)
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Slow
Seed Vigor [2]  Low
Seeds Per [2]  28430 / lb (62677 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Erect
Specific Gravity [5]  0.57
Structure [3]  Shrub
Usage [3]  A number of cultivars of this species are used for hedging; Fairly wind-resistant, this species is also used in shelterbelt plantings; A dye has been made from the berries - the colour is not given; Wood - light, tough, not strong, close grained, highly shock resistant, easily worked; A strikingly white wood, it is valued for use in veneers and inlay; It weighs 36lb per cubic foot; Too small for commercial exploitation, but it is valued for use in cabinet making and the interior finishes of houses; The wood can also be stained to imitate ebony;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  None
Flower Color [2]  Yellow
Foliage Color [2]  Green
Fruit Color [2]  Red
Fall Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Fruit Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Height [3]  49 feet (15 m)
Width [3]  4.92 feet (1.5 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 6 Low Temperature: -10 F° (-23.3 C°) → 0 F° (-17.8 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 9 Low Temperature: 20 F° (-6.7 C°) → 30 F° (-1.1 C°)
Light Preference [2]  Mostly Shady
Soil Acidity [2]  Moderate Acid
Soil Fertility [2]  Intermediate
Water Use [1]  Moderate
View Plants For A Future Record : Ilex opaca

Protected Areas

Ecosystems

Emblem of

Delaware

Predators

Providers

Pollinated by 
Apis mellifera (honey bee)[8]
Bombus fervidus (Golden northern bumble bee)[8]

Consumers

Range Map

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1i-Tree Species v. 4.0, developed by the USDA Forest Service's Northern Research Station and SUNY-ESF using the Horticopia, Inc. plant database.
♦ 2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 4Wood Janka Hardness Scale/Chart J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
♦ 5Forest Inventory and Analysis DB version 5.1, May 4, 2013, U.S. Forest Service
♦ 6Biological Records Centre Database of Insects and their Food Plants
♦ 7Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 8Study of Northern Virginia Ecology
♦ 9Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 10HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0