Ilex verticillata (L.) A. Gray

Common Winterberry; Black Alder; Fever Bush

Shrub

Perennial

Vascular

Common Winterberry is a native deciduous shrub in the Holly family (Aquifoliaceae). It can be found throughout Alabama. Common Winterberry grows in bogs, along streams and creeks, in hardwood floodplains, and in seeps. It is a multi-stemmed shrub reaching heights of 15-20 feet. The stems are green or brown in color and glabrous or pubescent. The bark on the older stems and trunks is smooth and gray in color. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, obovate to elliptic in outline, with serrate margins. The leaves are glabrous or pubescent on the lower surface. The leaves turn black when touched by frost. Common Winterberry is dioecious, with separate plants producing either male or female flowers. The flowers are produced in cymes in the axils of the leaves in spring. The flowers are greenish-white in color and have 5 ciliate sepals and 5 petals. The fruit is a red drupe that remains on the shrub into the winter months. The fruit of Common Winterberry are consumed by a variety of birds. Common Winterberry is an attractive shrub, and is available from some nurseries. It prefers a moist to wet soil in full to partial sun. At least one male plant is needed for fruit formation.--A. Diamond

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Native FACW (NWPL)

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