Growing up in the Chicago, Illinois region, I knew of only one American Holly tree that was planted near the administration building of Morton Arboretum in Lisle, that was there from the 1920's into the 1990's, only reaching about 15 feet high. The area with silt-clay loam soils with a pH of about 6.8 to 7.1 the most was not great for this species that is native from central Florida to east Texas to southern Illinois into southern New England. I've seen it thriving in the acid, sandy loam soils of central and southern Delaware in the oak-hickory-beech woods and in some spots in the woods of eastern Pennsylvania. It has been planted a good amount along the East Coast and in the South in average to professional landscapes. It is slow growing of a little less than 1 foot/year. (There is a hybrid of the English Holly x the Chinese Holly, the cultivar of 'Nellie Stevens,' that unfortunately in recent times has often replaced this native species because it grows faster of about 1.5 feet/year, but it does not look as good with a varying amount of irregular growth.) The spiny evergreen leaves of American Holly get about 2 to 4 inches long and are usually medium green and not real shiny. The greenish-white flowers in spring are either all male flowers on each tree with yellow-headed stamens or all female flowers with a big green pistil. The red berries are about 0.3 inches in diameter borne in fall and winter and they are an excellent source of food for birds. The bark is gray and smooth, eventually getting some wartiness. This is a most lovely and high quality broadleaf evergreen tree. Many cultivars have been developed, but I mostly see the mother species around.

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This is a slow growing evergreen here. Both male and female plants are needed to produce the red fruits that are eaten by numerous songbirds.

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Very common in the woods around me, which may be why I regularly find seedlings under my trees in natural, leaf litter areas. Some I have transplanted are now about four feet tall and I hope to see flowers soon to know if they are male or female.

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Delaware's state tree.

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