Photo: Eldergristle, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Long-stalked Holly

Ilex collina

Also called longstalk holly, hill holly, Nemopanthus collinus.

A rare deciduous holly of high Appalachian streams and bogs, with bright red berries that dangle on stalks up to an inch long.

RareWildlife valueTolerates wet soil

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 10–13 ft
USDA zones: 5–7
Growth rate: Slow
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Average, Wet
Grows wild in: The Appalachians, stream banks, rocky ground, swamps and wet flats
Native range: Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Long-stalked holly is a deciduous holly of the high Appalachians, from West Virginia and Virginia to the Smokies and north Georgia. It grows along cold streams, at bog edges and in seepy boulderfields. It looks much like our mountain winterberry, but its bright red berries hang on stalks up to an inch long, where mountain winterberry's sit nearly on the twig. Virginia lists it as endangered, and Tennessee and North Carolina list it as a species of special concern. Set it by a stream or at the wet edge of a woodland garden, where the dangling red fruit shows in fall.

Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator treats it as a slow grower, like our mountain winterberry, about a foot a year. It makes a many-stemmed shrub 10 to 13 feet tall with smooth, tawny-gray bark. Its finely toothed leaves run 2 to 3 inches long.

Small, pale yellow-green flowers open in May and June, a few together along the twigs. On female plants, shiny bright red berries a quarter to half an inch across ripen from August. Each hangs on a stalk up to an inch long, and they stay on until late winter.

It grows wild only in the high Appalachians of West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia, at about 2,100 to 4,800 feet. Its home is cold, nutrient-poor wetlands along streams and at streamheads, bog edges, beaver ponds and seepy boulderfields, often with hemlock, red spruce and mountain winterberry. Logging near streams and changes to their flow threaten it.

How to grow Long-stalked Holly

Long-stalked holly grows in part shade or sun, in a wet, acid soil like the stream banks, bogs and seeps of its mountain home. It also grows on seepy, rocky slopes under yellow birch and hemlock. Plant it 6 feet from a wall and set plants 6 feet apart. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Holly seed has a deep dormancy, so sow cleaned seed outdoors in fall, a quarter inch deep under mulch. Expect seedlings in the second or third spring.

Keep the soil wet through the first two summers. It spreads by underground stems into a small thicket over the years. It needs little pruning.

Plants are male or female, and only females bear the red fruit, so plant three or more seedlings for a male and a female. Hollies are usually pollinated by small bees and other insects. Birds eat the fruit, which stays on into late winter. As with other hollies, eating the berries can make a person mildly ill.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

Sources (9)