Ilex aquifolium
Holly
Species Details
Holly is a spiny and evergreen native shrub of hedges woods and scrub. It can also occur as a tree, sometimes a large ancient one, as at Hathersage (SK231814). Also it was planted in times past for winter browse for stock (Spray 1981), and is now planted for amenity and as a source of food for wildlife. It is very common throughout our county, only becoming rare in the uplands of the Dark and White Peak. It has a local name of Hollin (Grigson 1975) that often forms part of local place names such as at Hollin Clough and Hollinhill Grips. In this form the term is often thought to refer to stands or groves of trees, hollins or holly hags, that were maintained in the past as a source of winter-feed for farm animals. The plant now has a rather different local use in that its berries are used to form the patterns in some well-dressing images.
Hedgerow holly berries can form an important food source for wintrer birds.