''Ilex verticillata'', the winterberry, is a species of holly native to eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

in the United States and southeast Canada, from

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

west to Ontario and Minnesota, and south to Alabama. Other names that have been used include black alder, Canada holly, coralberry, fever bush, Michigan holly, or winterberry holly. The species occurs particularly in wetland habitats, but also on dry sand dunes and grassland. The berries are an important food resource for some species of bird, among them the

American robin The American robin (''Turdus migratorius'') is a migratory bird of the true thrush genus and Turdidae, the wider thrush family. It is named after the European robin because of its reddish-orange breast, though the two species are not closel ...

Description

''Ilex verticillata'' is a

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

growing to tall. It is one of a number of hollies which are deciduous, losing their leaves in the fall. In wet sites, it will spread to form a dense thicket, while in dry soil it remains a tight shrub. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are glossy green, long, broad, with a serrated margin and an acute apex. The flowers are small, in diameter, with five to eight white petals. The fruit is a globose red

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

in diameter, which often persists on the branches long into the winter, giving the plant its English name. Like most hollies, it is

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, with separate male and female plants; the proximity of at least one male plant is required to

pollenize {{Unreferenced, date=May 2009 A pollenizer (or polleniser), sometimes pollinizer (or polliniser, see -ise vs -ize, spelling differences) is a plant that provides pollen. The word ''pollinator'' is often used when ''pollenizer'' is more ...

the females in order to bear fruit. Ilex verticillata - Winterberry, female.jpg, Female, flowers in early summer Ilex-verticillata-Acadia.jpg, Foliage and unripe fruit in summer Winterberry Holly Ilex verticillata 'Winter Red' Berries.jpg, Fruit in the winter

Cultivation and uses

Medicinal

The berries were used by Native Americans for medicinal purposes, the origin of the name "fever bush". The seeds, leaves, bark and berries of the plant can cause nausea and low blood pressure if ingested.

Ornamental plant

''Ilex verticillata'' – the American winterberry – is prized as an ornamental plant in gardens for the midwinter splash of bright color from densely packed berries, whose visibility is heightened by the loss of foliage; therefore it is popular even where other, evergreen, hollies are also grown. The bare branches covered in berries are also popular for cutting and use in floral arrangements. It is easy to grow, with very few diseases or pests. Although wet acidic soils are optimal, the winterberry will grow well in the average garden. Numerous cultivars are available, differing in size and shape of the plant and color of the berry. At least one male plant must be planted in proximity to one or more females for them to bear fruit. Because both females and males come in early- and late-flowering varieties, males must be selected to have same timing as the females they are intended to pollinate.

Selected cultivars

Female

* ''Ilex verticillata'' 'Winter Red' Fruit is orange-red * ''Ilex verticillata'' 'Afterglow' Fruit is orange-red * ''Ilex verticillata'' 'Red Sprite' Large, red fruit * ''Ilex verticillata'' 'Spravy' "Berry Heavy" Fruit is orange-red * ''Ilex verticillata'' 'Spriber' "Berry Nice" Bright red fruit

Male (pollinator; no fruit)

* ''Ilex verticillata'' 'Southern Gentleman' * ''Ilex verticillata'' 'Jim Dandy'

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q3487324 verticillata Flora of Eastern Canada Flora of the Northeastern United States Flora of the Great Lakes region (North America) Flora of the North-Central United States Flora of the Southeastern United States Flora of Alabama Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Bird food plants Garden plants of North America Shrubs Flora of New Jersey Trees of the Southeastern United States Trees of the United States Trees of Canada