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Name That Plant!

Help Identifying a Berry Producing Shrub

9 years ago

To recap: Bought a house. Friends have small children! Must know what these berries are because small children make poor decisions!

This post: The Shrub:

I thought this might be a Japanese Holly, but found references to dark fruit rather than the bright red I'm seeing.

Shrubs are between 7 and 9 feet high, and about 4 ft in diameter each (estimate).

The leaves are roughly oval, but most have a sharply tapered point on the end. (Some leaves have rounded ends with no point, on the same plant.) Leaf edges are otherwise smooth and waxy/glossy.

Leaves are alternate, not paired, circling the stems in a rough spiral pattern. Berries are bright red, attach directly to the leaf stem, and seem to be in clusters of between 5 and 12 or so.

Trunk has a grey-brown bark and is very woody.

Thanks again for any help! I'm having a hard time identifying them from online resources!

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Comments (10)

thedecoguy
9 years ago
Ilex sp
shadlyn
Original Author
9 years ago
Follow-up:

The two closest I can find from online pictures are Chinese Holly (Ilex Cornuta) and Roundleaf Holly (Ilex Rotunda).

Ilex Cornuta looks likely; it would account for the single prong on some of the leaves and the bright red berries.
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Embothrium
9 years ago
Definitely a Chinese holly cultivar. 'Rotunda' is a cultivar of I. cornuta, not a separate species I. rotunda.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
9 years ago
Ilex cornuta "Burfordii" or I. c. "Burfordii nana" would be my guess.
shadlyn
Original Author
9 years ago
bboy - Thanks for the clarification!

rhizo_1 - I think it's the Ilex Cornuta "Burfordii" - the Nana is listed as 4-6', and the taller shrub is already above my 8' fence.

Otherwise, you're right! That looks like a very close match. The leaves on my plant are a little paler than the very dark green in the images I'm finding, but mine also appears to have been...shall we say, haphazardly cultivated? Left au naturale?

Otherwise, everything I can find is spot on - leaf shape, berry appearance, height, zone, etc.

Thank you so much!
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
9 years ago
I was going to mention that it looks pretty pale. :-)

Don't go overboard with fertilization this early spring, but you might consider a fertilizer for acid loving plants, like Holly-Tone.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
9 years ago
Friends have small children! Must know what these berries are because small children make poor decisions!
==>>>
fill small snack baggies with goldfish crackers ... tell the kids NEVER to eat anything in the yard... and to bring the baggie back when its empty.. for more ... its much easier to teach the crumb muncher ... as compared to denuding your entire yard ....

most likely ... you will never remove everything in the yard that might hurt a child .... heck.. even if they eat enough grass ... they will be trotting around the yard ...

but you are right.. these types of berries are what is called in the law .. an attractive nuisance .... they attract attention ...

ken
Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
9 years ago
Yeah, I'd say Burford holly, perhaps dwarf.

Could also possibly be 'Needlepoint'? or even Ilex cornuta 'Fineline'.

Actually there is an Ilex rotunda (Kurogane holly), but it's rather rare in the US.
Embothrium
9 years ago
The R was capitalized in the original statement so I thought I. cornuta 'Rotunda' was being referred to.
Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
9 years ago
Gotcha.

By the way, do you all grow Ilex rotunda out there?

What a magnificent holly!

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