American Holly Tree Seeds | White Holly | (Ilex opaca)

Red berries. Green through winter. The tree that defines the season.

Ilex opaca, the American Holly, is the quintessential winter tree of eastern North America, its glossy deep green leaves and clusters of brilliant red berries providing color and structure through the coldest months when everything else has gone bare. Native from Massachusetts to Florida and west to Texas, it is a broad-leaved evergreen that tolerates shade, poor soils, and cold winters with equal ease. It is also one of the most important berry-producing trees for overwintering birds in the eastern United States, supporting bluebirds, cedar waxwings, robins, and dozens of other species through the lean months of winter. If you are looking to buy American Holly seeds or grow native holly from seed, this is the tree that anchors the winter landscape.

• Brilliant red berries held through winter provide critical food for overwintering birds
• Glossy evergreen foliage provides year-round structure and deep green color in the landscape
• Native across a wide swath of eastern North America, adaptable to a broad range of conditions
• Shade-tolerant, one of the few evergreen trees that establishes well under existing canopy
• Male and female flowers on separate trees, plant both for berry production

Things you probably did not know about the American Holly

Delaware adopted it as the state tree after a children's vote in 1939.
The American Holly won the Delaware state tree contest because it was so universally present and beloved across the state's landscape. It remains the only state tree chosen by schoolchildren in a statewide election.

The berries are mildly toxic to humans but not to birds.
American Holly berries contain ilicin and other compounds that cause vomiting and diarrhea in humans if consumed in quantity, which is why they are never eaten. Birds are not affected by these compounds and consume them readily. The toxicity evolved to discourage mammals from eating berries before they ripen fully and can be properly dispersed.

You need both a male and a female tree for berries.
American Holly is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate trees. Female trees produce the berries but only when a male tree is present within about 200 feet to provide pollen. Seed-grown trees take several years to reach flowering age, at which point you will discover what you have.

The wood was used for piano keys before plastics replaced it.
American Holly produces the whitest hardwood of any North American species, dense enough to take a high polish and pale enough to contrast sharply with ebony. Piano manufacturers used Holly and Ebony for keys for over a century before synthetic materials became standard.

Growing Details

• Botanical Name: Ilex opaca
• Stratification: Required, 60 days warm followed by 60 days cold stratification
• USDA Zones: 5 to 9
• Soil: Well-drained, slightly acidic, moist to average
• Light: Full sun to full shade
• Height: 15 to 50 feet
• Spread: 10 to 20 feet
• Growth Rate: Slow, 6 to 12 inches per year

Plant a male and female together in a location where you will see the red berries from inside the house in January. That is the full point of this tree.