Photo: Robert Thornhill, CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Myrtle Dahoon

Ilex myrtifolia

Also called myrtle holly, myrtle-leaf holly, Ilex cassine var. myrtifolia.

A small-leaved evergreen holly of southern swamp edges, with thick, shiny leaves like a myrtle's and red berries that last into spring.

EvergreenWildlife valueTolerates wet soilHedge or screenTolerates shadeWinter interest

Type: Small tree
Mature height: 15–25 ft
USDA zones: 7–10
Growth rate: Medium
Sun: Full, Part, Shade
Soil moisture: Average, Wet
Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, swamps and wet flats
Native range: 8 states, north to North Carolina, south to Florida and west to Texas
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Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas
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Myrtle dahoon is an evergreen holly of the southern Coastal Plain, from North Carolina to Florida and west to Louisiana and Texas. It grows at the edges of swamps and cypress ponds, in bays and on low, sandy flats. It is a close cousin of dahoon, sometimes treated as a variety of it. Its thick, shiny leaves are only half an inch to an inch and a half long, like a myrtle's. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in Texas and imperiled in Louisiana, at the west end of its range. Use it as an evergreen hedge at a pond edge or in a wet, shady corner, where the red berries last into spring.

Size, growth and what to expect

Myrtle dahoon grows at a medium pace, about a foot and a half a year in our growth estimator. It makes a dense evergreen shrub or small tree, usually no more than 15 to 18 feet tall, and some reach 25 feet. Its thick, shiny leaves are half an inch to an inch and a half long, and its thin gray bark turns scaly with age.

Small, fragrant, greenish-white flowers open from April into June. On female trees, berries a quarter inch across ripen red, now and then orange or yellow, in late fall. They often hang on until spring, and birds eat them.

It grows wild on the Coastal Plain from North Carolina to Florida and west to Louisiana and Texas. Its home is the margins of swamps and cypress ponds, bays and low, sandy flats. In the Florida Panhandle it grows with Chapman's St. John's-wort in wet shrublands around flatwoods ponds.

How to grow Myrtle Dahoon

Myrtle dahoon grows in full sun or part shade and also takes shade. It wants a moist to wet, acid soil, and it takes standing water for part of the year. Plant it 15 feet from a wall and 15 feet from overhead wires, since some trees reach 25 feet. Set plants 8 feet apart for a hedge.

Saplings ship potted. Its roots resent disturbance, so plant it once, in its final spot. Dig a hole wider than the root ball and no deeper, and set the root flare at the soil line. Put the native soil back in and keep the mulch clear of the stems. Clean the seed from the pulp and discard any that float, since they are not viable. Sow it outdoors in fall, a quarter inch deep under mulch, and expect seedlings in the second or third spring. For a spring sowing, keep it damp at room temperature for one to two months and then in the refrigerator for two to three months.

Water weekly through the first two summers, and shelter young plants from hard cold for their first winter or two. It takes pruning well and can be cut back to old wood.

Trees are male or female, and only females bear the berries, so plant three or more seedlings for a male and a female. It is relatively free of pests and diseases. 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.

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