Ilex glabra (L.) A. Gray

Inkberry; Little Gallberry

Shrub

Perennial

Vascular

Little Gallberry is a native evergreen shrub in the Holly family (Aquifoliaceae). It can be found in the southern half of the state. Little Gallberry grows in low pine woods, in bogs and seeps, in pine flatwoods, along streams, and in savannas. It is a colonial shrub reaching heights of 6-9 feet. It often forms dense thickets from stolons in south Alabama. Young stems are yellowish-green in color and older stems have smooth gray bark. The leaves are alternate, petiolate, elliptic to obovate in outline, with usually a few teeth along the margin towards the tip. The leaves are dark green and lustrous above and paler green below. There are scattered small punctate glands on the lower surface of the leaf that are reddish in color. Staminate and pistillate flowers occur on separate plants. Staminate flowers occur in stalked cymes of 3-5 flowers in the axils of the leaves. Pistillate flowers are solitary in the leaf axils. The flowers have a green 5-8 lobed calyx and a white 5-8 lobed corolla. The fruit is a black drupe. The pulp of the drupe is dry and bitter to the taste, but is consumed by birds. Little Gallberry is available from nurseries. It prefers a moist acidic soil in full sun, but is adaptable to a wide variety of conditions. It can be used as a hedge, a foundation plant, or naturalized in mass plantings. Several cultivars are available including forms with white fruit and dwarf or compact growing forms.--A. Diamond

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Native FACW (NWPL)

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