Sex before poison for holly tree
The attractive fruit of the holly ripens in the winter and persists into the spring.
Illustrated in the photograph is a variegated holly that provides an interesting leaf colour all year round as well as bright red winter berries. It’s a good attractive garden specimen.
As well as providing colour the holly attracts birds to the garden. Blackbirds and thrushes are always around.
In turn these birds help to clean up slugs and snails that can be quite troublesome, especially in the spring.
There are more than 400 species of holly. They are very hardy trees and will grow from sea level to 2000 metres and can withstand most weather.
Holly berries are beautiful but poisonous.
They can cause vomiting and diarrhoea in humans and they can be especially dangerous when consumed by children who have been attracted by the bright red colouring.
Children have had noticeable symptoms after eating just two berries.
The leaves can also be toxic to pets and livestock.
While the prickly leaves are a deterrent, they don’t keep everyone away.
Some folk have had a holly in their garden for years and are disappointed that there has not been an attractive display of berries.
The first thing to check is the sex of the tree.
The holly has male flowers on one tree and female flowers on a different tree.
For there to be fruit, female holly flowers need to be pollinated with pollen from a male tree.
They are described as dioecious.
The sex can be determined in the flowering season.
Male holly flowers have a cluster of pollen producing stamen (usually four) in the centre of each blossom while female holly flowers have a single ovary and a single stigma which receives the pollen from a male flower.
Adequate pollination is a must if there’s to be a display of bright red holly berries.