Ilex ambigua (Michx.) Ell.

Carolina holly
sand holly

Caroline holly is listed as threatened by the Florida Department of
Agriculture and Consumer Services [27].

More info for the terms: drupe, fruit, shrub, tree

Carolina holly is a native, deciduous or nearly evergreen, large shrub
or small tree to 18 feet (6 m) tall [7,11]. The branches are
distributed irregularly, forming a rounded crown. The branches range
from glabrous to densely pubescent. The bark is dark brown to black,
lustrous, smooth, and flaking on old stems [24]. The leaves are 1.6 to
7.1 inches (4-18 cm) long and 0.59 to 2.7 inches (1.5-7 cm) wide. The
fruit is a red, translucent, globose drupe 0.2 to 0.36 inch (5-9 mm) in
diameter [17]. The sessile fruits are distributed along the length of
the branches [11].

The native range of Carolina holly is the Coastal Plain from North
Carolina, northern Georgia, northern Alabama, central Arkansas, and
southeastern Oklahoma south to central Florida, the Gulf Coast, and
eastern Texas [3,15].

More info for the terms: cover, fire suppression, natural, shrub, succession

Carolina holly occurs in Florida sand pine scrub communities which
usually experience fire at least once during the lifetime of the sand
pine trees [16]. These communities are maintained by fires that recur
once every 10 to 100 years; fire suppression allows succession to
hammock (hardwood) communities in which Carolina holly is present in
early stages [23]. Carolina holly was reported in the understory of
longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) communities in the Alabama piedmont, but
the fire history of those particular stands was not detailed. Longleaf
pine under natural conditions experienced frequent low-intensity surface
fires [26]; however, the stands containing Carolina holly may not have
burned recently since shrub cover was reported as 27 percent (SD 19 %)
[8]. Currently, prescribed fires are used to maintain longleaf pine in
an open condition [25].

More info for the terms: presence, shrub, top-kill

Carolina holly may be eliminated from the understory of pine communities
that are subjected to frequent fires. The related evergreen species
American holly is eliminated by repeated prescribed fires [9]. Carolina
holly may be encouraged by occasional fires, either because it may sprout
after top-kill (suggested by its presence as a shrub in the understory
of longleaf pine communities) or because it can colonize open areas via
bird-dispersed seeds.

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More info for the term: phanerophyte

Phanerophyte

More info for the terms: litter, xeric

Carolina holly is occasional in sandy upland woods [3,17]. It occurs on
a wide variety of well-drained sites [7]. Carolina holly occurred in a
sand pine scrub community that had 0 to 1 inch (2.54 cm) of litter and
humus over sand. It is described as a typical member of xeric hammocks
and scrub communities [14]. A related evergreen species, American
holly, is intolerant of flooding [9].

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This species is known to occur in association with the following cover types (as classified by the Society of American Foresters):

34 Red spruce - Fraser fir
69 Sand pine
70 Longleaf pine
71 Longleaf pine - scrub oak
82 Loblolly pine - hardwood

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This species is known to occur in the following ecosystem types (as named by the U.S. Forest Service in their Forest and Range Ecosystem [FRES] Type classification):

FRES12 Longleaf - slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly - shortleaf pine
FRES14 Oak - pine
FRES15 Oak - hickory

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This species is known to occur in association with the following plant community types (as classified by Küchler 1964):

More info for the term: forest

K089 Black Belt
K104 Appalachian oak forest
K111 Oak - hickory - pine forest
K112 Southern mixed forest
K115 Sand pine scrub

The fruits of Carolina holly are eaten by a number of species of birds.
They are also consumed by squirrels, other small mammals, and
white-tailed deer [11,22].

More info for the terms: hardwood, mesic, xeric

Carolina holly occurs in a variety of habitats: mesic or submesic mixed
hardwoods, pine-scrub oak sand ridges and flats, sandy hardwood
hammocks, and sandy old fields [7]. Species with which Carolina holly
occurs in xeric hardwood hammocks include American holly (Ilex opaca),
inkberry (I. glabra), laurel oak (Quercus laurifolia), live oak (Q.
virginiana), and spruce pine (P. glabra) [4,6,14,16,23].

More info for the terms: shrub, tree

Tree, Shrub

AL AR FL GA LA MS NC OK SC TX

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More info for the term: fruit

Carolina holly flowers from March to June. Ripe fruits are available to
wildlife from late summer to December [3,11]. Simpson [19], however,
reports that the fruit falls quickly after ripening.

More info for the terms: fire regime, seed

Secondary colonizer - off-site seed


FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page
under "Find FIRE REGIMES".

More info for the terms: dioecious, root crown, seed, top-kill

Carolina holly reproduces by animal-dispersed seed. It is dioecious
[7]. No specific information is available concerning Carolina holly
seed germination requirements. The seeds of other holly (Ilex spp.)
species exhibit a deep dormancy caused partly by a hard endocarp
covering the seedcoat, and partly by conditions in the embryo. This
deep dormancy results in extremely slow germination for most hollies; 70
to 95 percent germination was reported for inkberry (I. glabra) when the
germination test was allowed to continue for over 300 days. Complete
germination often does not occur until the second or even third spring
after sowing [2].

No information on vegetative reproduction of Carolina holly is currently
available. American holly sprouts from the root crown following
top-kill [9]. Propagation of hollies by cuttings is very common [2].

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More info for the terms: hardwood, xeric

Facultative Seral Species

Carolina holly is a member of some sand pine scrub communities that are
early successional and maintained by fire [7,8,14,16]. It also occurs
in the mixed hardwood communities ("hammocks") that replace sand pine
scrub when fire is suppressed. In one study [8], it was reported in the
early stage of a xeric hammock community, but was not present 20 years
later and may therefore not be late-successional in these communities.
Carolina holly was reported as occurring in old-growth red spruce (Picea
rubens)-Fraser fir (Abies fraseri) communities in the Appalachian
Mountains of Virginia [1]. It is possible, however, that the reported
species was actually mountain winterberry (I. montana) rather than
Carolina holly, since this is outside the range of Carolina holly.

Ilex caroliniana (Walt.) Trel. [12]

The currently accepted scientific name for Carolina holly is Ilex
ambigua (Michx.) Torr. [15]. Some authorities [7,17] recognize I. a.
var. monticola and I. a. var. montana as infrataxa, but these entities
appear to be more properly placed as synonyms of I. montana Torr. &
Gray (mountain winterberry) [12,15,24].