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Red Holly

Red Holly

Ilex rubra is a woody plant belonging to the Ilex family. Simple leaves alternate, leathery, leaf ovate, ovate-elliptic or lanceolate. 

Apex acuminate, base cuneate, margin serrated, leaf surface shiny. Petiole short, cyme, born in the axils of the current shoots; 

Flowers lilac red, unisexual, dioecious; Drupe berry-like, spherical, fascicled, red. The flowering period is from May to June, 

and the fruiting period is from October to November. Red Holly because of winter, the leaves are still green, so also known as Holly.

Red Holly is native to the Yangtze River basin and the south of China. It grows in the evergreen broad-leaved forest or the forest margin at higher elevations. 

Red Holly likes warm climate, has a certain cold resistance, suitable for fertile moist, well-drained acidic soil; More resistant to dampness; Strong budding strength. 

Strong resistance to sulfur dioxide. The main breeding methods were seed propagation and cuttage propagation.

Medicinal parts of red Holly: root, leaf; Cool, sweet taste; It has the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying, activating blood and relieving pain. 

The red Holly tree is neat and green all year round. It should be a shade tree and a landscape tree; It can also be isolated in lawns, watersides, 

and planted in doorways, wall signs, and forest roads; It can also be used as a hedge, bonsai, fruit branches can be inserted into bottles.

Morphological characteristics

Red fruit Holly alias wild by waxleaf, red coral Holly, coral Holly, Ilex family Ilex. Evergreen shrub or tree, 3-10 m tall; Branchlets cylindrical, slender, 

longitudinally ribbed, pale brown, glabrous or puberulous, triennial branchlets with small rind and slightly protruded narrow triangular leaf scars; 

Terminal bud small, ovate, glabrous or puberulous. Leaves on 1-3 year branches, leaf blade leathery, ovate, ovate-elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, 

4-10 (-13) cm long, 1.55-3 (-5) cm wide, apex acuminate or acute, base rounded or obtuse, margin undulate, crenate-serrate, sparsely acnate, leaf surface dark green,

 abaxially light green, both surfaces glabrous, Or the leaf surface is sparsely puberulous along the main veins, the main veins are sunken in the leaf surface, the back is raised, 

the side veins are 7-10 on each side, raised on both sides, and the network veins are obvious on both sides; Petiole 4-10 mm long, purplish-red, upper mask shallowly grooved, 

glabrous or puberulous, lower mask transverse wrinkles.

Inflorescence fascicled in axillary of biennial branches, pedicellary few, bracts ovate-triangular, marginal hairs; Flowers yellow-green, 4 base. Male flower; 

Individual cymes with 1-3 flowers, total peduncle ca. 1 mm long, peduncle ca. 2 mm long, base with 2 ovate, marginal hairy bracteoles; 

Calyx disc-shaped, ca. 2 mm in diam., 4-deeply divided, lobes ovate-triangular, marginal seta; Corolla 6-7 mm in diameter, petals oblong, ca. 3 mm long, ca. 1.5 mm wide, base united; 

Stamens and petals equal in length, anthers oblong, ca. 1 mm long; Ovary subglobose, apical rounded, slightly 4-lobed. Female flowers: Single clusters in the axils of biennial branches, 

few pedicels absent, pedicels 1-2 mm long, base with 2 ovate-triangular bracteoles; Calyx lobes rounded, ciliate; Petals separate, ovate, ca.2 mm long and 1.2 mm wide; The sterile stamen is about 2/3 of the petal, 

and the abortive anthers are arrowhead shaped. Ovary ovoid, ca. 1.5 mm long and 1 mm in diameter, apical subtruncate, stigma thinly disc-shaped.

Fruit subglobose, 3-4 mm in diameter, purplish red at maturity, persistent stigma thinly disc-shaped, 4-lobed; Persistent calyx flat. Divided nuclei 4, elliptic triangular prism, 2-2.5 mm long, 

about 1.5 mm wide on the back, with indistinct palmate longitudinals and shallow furrows on the back, and wrinkles on the side. Flowering period from April to May, fruit period from September to October, 

fruit ripening period from October to November.

Growing environment

Light, shade, cold, rich acid soil, wet, but not resistant to water, deep roots, strong wind resistance, strong budding, resistant to pruning. It has certain resistance to harmful gases.

It is found at an altitude of (400-) 750-2400 (-3000) m above sea level in hillside scrub or forest.

Propagation method

Red Holly is mainly sown and propagated, and can also be propagated by interbreeding.

Sowing and propagation: harvest the fruit after ripening in autumn, remove the peel, rinse and wash the seeds, promote germination with low temperature stratification treatment of wet sand, and sow the seeds before March of the next spring. The growth of seedlings is slow and needs careful maintenance and management. If the Holly seeds are not treated with germination, they often need to germinate every other year.

Cutting propagation: The cuttings should be taken in the plum rain season, with the length of the cuttings being 6 ~ 8cm, the lower leaves cut off, the upper one ~ two leaves left and 1/3 cut short. After soaking the cuttings in 200mg/L NAA solution for 3 hours, the depth of the cuttings should be 1/2, and sand or perlite and peat soil (3:1) should be used as the substrate. After insertion, a shelter should be set up for shade and water should be sprayed frequently to keep them moist. It takes about 1 month to take root.

Cultivation technique

Conventional cultivation management: seedlings in the nursery after 2 to 3 years, can be transplanted, transplantation should be carried out in the spring, requiring no root damage when digging seedlings, and transplanting with soil, the initial planting should pay attention to tillage and weeding, dry water, strengthen management.

Harvesting and storage: can be harvested all year round, the leaves are fresh or dried, the roots are washed and dried.

Disease and insect control

Holly is susceptible to the harm of wax scale, and coal smoke disease is easy to occur between the densely growing branches and leaves and in the burnt skin. In places where winter is relatively cold, measures such as soil piling can be taken. Leaf spot is the main disease, which can be controlled by carbendazim and chlorothalonil.

Medicinal value

Medicinal parts of red Holly: root, leaf; Cool, sweet taste; It has the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying, activating blood and relieving pain.