| Aquifoliaceae | ||||||||||
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 European Holly (Ilex aquifolium) | ||||||||||
| Plant Info | ||||||||||
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| Scientific classification | ||||||||||
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| Genera | ||||||||||
| Ilex - Holly |
Aquifoliaceae is a small flowering plant family with only one genus, Ilex, the hollies, a large genus with about 600 species distributed nearly world-wide, absent only from Australasia and western North America. They are shrubs and small trees, including both evergreen and deciduous species. Many of them are highly decorative.
American Holly (Ilex opaca) foliage and berries
One other genus, Nemopanthus, was formerly accepted as containing one species Nemopanthus mucronatus, separated from Ilex on the basis that the flowers having a reduced calyx and narrow petals, and also in cytology, being tetraploid, whereas Ilex is diploid. However, following molecular analysis, it has now been merged into Ilex, as I. mucronata [1], [2].
References
- Powell, M., Savolainen, V., Cuénod, P., Manen, J. F., & Andrews, S. (2000). The mountain holly (Nemopanthus mucronatus: Aquifoliaceae) revisited with molecular data. Kew Bulletin 55: 341-347.