Ilex cornuta
Common name: 
Chinese Holly
Horned Holly
Pronunciation: 
I-leks kor-NU-ta
Family: 
Aquifoliaceae
Genus: 
Ilex
Type: 
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
No
  • Broadleaf evergreen shrub, to 12 ft (4 m) high, rounded, bushy.  Leaves leathery, tough, variable in form, often somewhat rectangular with a thorn on each corner and one at the apex, 4-10 cm long, dull green.  Flowers white, 4-parted.  Fruit red, spherical, 8-10 mm.
  • Sun to part shade
  • Hardy to USDA Zone (5)6      Native to China
  • Many cultivar, over 80 are listed by Galle (1997), the most common are:
    • ‘Burfordii’  -   to 10-25 ft (3-8 m) high, dense, rounded, lustrous dark green leaves with one or two spines, red fruit.
    • ‘Dazzler’  -  upright, to 10 ft (3 m), five-spined leaf, abundant red fruit.
    • ‘Dwarf Burford’  -  compact form, to 6 ft (1.8 m ) or more, leaves usually with a single spine, fruits less than ‘Burfordii’, fruits dark red.
    • ‘Rotunda’  -  compact, mounded, to 4 ft high, double in width, leaves usually with 5 spines, sets little or no fruit.
  • cornuta: horned, referring to leaf spines
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  • plant habit, sheared, flowering

    plant habit, sheared, flowering

  • plant habit, bonsai, flowering

    plant habit, bonsai, flowering

  • flowers

    flowers