Holly

Holly is an evergreen, but with leaves rather than needles, and seeds from fruits rather than cones. The leaves are a dark glossy green, with spiked edges, but these – the tree’s protection against browsing animals – are often absent from the upper out-of-reach leaves. Throughout the Winter mature leaves gradually drop off, to be replaced by young pale green leaves, soft to the touch. Trees are usually male or female, but occasionally a tree will become both if there is no tree of opposite sex in the area. The little pink/white flowers of the female tree receive pollen from the male in Spring and small green berries are formed, which mature to crimson by the end of the year – in Gaelic ‘dearc’ or ‘caor’. The Holly may be up-reaching and tight in form, or spreading and unruly under the canopy of larger trees. They favour Oak woods or mixed woods of large deciduous trees – often growing right up against the larger trees – and in this shaded environment they often regenerate by sucker growth from the roots of the parent tree, or layering as long low branches touch the leaf mould of the forest floorand take root - as well as reproducing by seed. These low thin branches are deep green, and even the trunk remains green in some shaded conditions, with scaly patches of light brown, while mature hollies in the open have a smooth pale grey trunk, sometimes wrinkly. The Gaelic for Holly is ‘Chuilleann’ - a name related to the English name – and can be seen in place-names throughout the Highlands, such as Cruach doire cuilean – the ‘Stack, or Mount of the Holly Grove’, and Eilean a chuilinn – ‘Holly Island’. It is the Clan Badge of the McLeans, the McMillans and the Burnetts