| Ilex mucronata | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Aquifoliales |
| Family: | Aquifoliaceae |
| Genus: | Ilex |
| Species: | I. mucronata |
| Binomial name | |
| Ilex mucronata (L.) M.Powell, Savol., & S.Andrews |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Nemopanthus mucronatus |
|
Ilex mucronata (Mountain Holly or Catberry) is a species of holly native to eastern North America, from Newfoundland west to Minnesota, and south to Maryland and West Virginia.[1]
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It was formerly treated in its own monotypic genus as Nemopanthus mucronatus (L.) Loes., but transferred to Ilex on molecular data;[2] it is closely related to Ilex amelanchier.[3]
Ilex mucronata is a deciduous shrub growing to 3 m (rarely 4 m) tall. The leaves are 1.5-7 cm long and 1-3 cm broad, with an entire or finely serrated margin and an acute apex, and a 0.5–2 cm petiole. The flowers are inconspicuous, whitish to greenish-yellow, produced on slender peduncles 25 mm or more long; it is usually dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants. The fruit is a red drupe 6–7 mm diameter containing three to five pits.[4][5][6]
The name Mountain Holly is also sometimes used for the related Mountain Winterberry (Ilex montana).
The white-petaled flower shown here, supposedly of Ilex mucronata, and the 2nd image, showing a flowering shrub of the same species, are actually images of an Amelanchier (Rosaceae) and nothing like the unisexual, very small, flowers of Ilex mucronata (Aquifoliaceae). For an accurate image of Ilex mucronata flowers (male), see: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ILMU