Ilex spinigera (female) Open House The flowers are the second

The flowers are the second

Older books file the plant under Beloperone guttata

where the spring flowers and clean leaves lend balance

or even full sun where mulch and water keep the roots cool

and botanists have since shuffled the plant toward a new genus

Ilex spinigera (female) Open House The flowers are the secondIlex spinigera is a holly with a deep past, a rare evergreen from the Hyrcanian forests that ring the southern Caspian Sea in northern Iran. Small, glossy, dark green leaves edged with fine spines clothe a dense small tree or large shrub, and on female plants such as this one bright red berries glow against the foliage through fall and into winter, the classic holly effect on an uncommonly ancient plant. Those Hyrcanian woods are living museums. When