Ilex montana
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Ilex montana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Genus
Synonyms
- I. monticola A. Gray
- I. dubia var. monticola (A. Gray) Locs.
Other taxa in genus
- Ilex × altaclarensis
- Ilex aquifolium
- Ilex bioritsensis
- Ilex buergeri
- Ilex cassine
- Ilex ciliospinosa
- Ilex corallina
- Ilex cornuta
- Ilex crenata
- Ilex cyrtura
- Ilex decidua
- Ilex dipyrena
- Ilex fargesii
- Ilex forrestii
- Ilex geniculata
- Ilex glabra
- Ilex hayatana
- Ilex hookeri
- Ilex integra
- Ilex intricata
- Ilex kingiana
- Ilex laevigata
- Ilex latifolia
- Ilex linii
- Ilex macrocarpa
- Ilex melanotricha
- Ilex mitis
- Ilex nothofagifolia
- Ilex opaca
- Ilex pedunculosa
- Ilex perado
- Ilex pernyi
- Ilex purpurea
- Ilex rotunda
- Ilex rubra
- Ilex rugosa
- Ilex serrata
- Ilex shennongjiaensis
- Ilex spinigera
- Ilex verticillata
- Ilex vomitoria
- Ilex yunnanensis
A deciduous shrub (sometimes a tree in the wild), with glabrous young stems. Leaves ovate to oval, with a long, tapering, lanceolate point, and a wedge-shaped base, sharply toothed, 2 to 5 in. long, 3⁄4 to 21⁄4 in. wide, pale green, glabrous, or downy only on the midrib and veins; stalk slender, 1⁄4 to 5⁄8 in. long. Flowers white, the males crowded at the end of short spur-like branches, or in the leaf-axils of the previous year’s growth, along with two or three leaves; the females short-stalked, fewer, often soliary. Calyx-lobes ciliate. Fruits globose, bright orange red, 3⁄8 in. across, borne on stalks about 1⁄4 in. long.
Native of the eastern United States from New York State southwards. It is allied to I. decidua, having the fruits red, the seeds many-ribbed at the back, and leaves often clustered on short spurs, but I. decidua has round-toothed leaves usually widest above the middle, and blunt at the apex. Introduced to Kew from N. Carolina in 1899, but possibly in cultivation earlier.