| Family | Scientific Name | Common Name | Habitat | Distribution | Image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex ambigua | Carolina Holly | Sandy upland forests, dry slope forests, rarely in pocosin ecotones in the fall-line sandhills region. | Ne. NC, se. TN, n. AR, and se. OK south to c. peninsular FL, s. MS, and se. TX; disjunct in the Sierra Madre Oriental and Chiapas, Mexico. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex amelanchier | Sarvis Holly | Banks of blackwater creeks and rivers, clay-based Carolina bays, other pine flatwoods ponds with seasonally flooded hydrology. | A Southeastern Coastal Plain endemic: se. NC south to the FL Panhandle and west to se. LA (reports from se. VA appear to be based on confusion of material); disjunct in w. LA (Vernon Parish). |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex aquifolium | English Holly, Christmas Holly | Disturbed areas, perhaps only persistent from cultivation. | Native of Europe. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex arenicola | Scrub Holly | Florida scrub. | Baker and Clay counties (ne. FL) south to sc. peninsular FL (Glades County). |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex cassine | Dahoon, Cassena | Blackwater stream swamps, pocosins, nearly always in very acid peaty or sandy sites. | Primarily a Southeastern Coastal Plain endemic: se. NC south to s. FL and west to se. TX; Bahamas, Cuba (González-Gutiérrez 2007), and Mexico. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex chinensis | Kashi Holly, Oriental Holly, Purple Holly | Suburban areas, spread from cultivation. | Native of China, Taiwan, and Japan. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex collina | Long-stalked Holly, Cherry Holly | In peats of bogs and seepages, on banks of cold, high elevation streams (less commonly on moist, rocky slopes in northern hardwood forests or mixed spruce-hardwood forests) at moderate to high elevations (1100-1800m). | A Southern Appalachian endemic: e. and c. WV, sw. VA, w. NC, e. TN (Sevier County) (Boetsch & Nielsen 2003), and ne. GA. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex coriacea | Big Gallberry, Sweet Gallberry | Pocosins, more restricted to wet, peaty sites than I. glabra, though very often intermixed in their regions of co-occurrence. | A Southeastern Coastal Plain endemic: se. VA south to c. peninsular FL and west to e. TX. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex cornuta | Chinese Holly, Burford Holly | Escaped into forests in (primarily) suburban and urban areas, but certain to become more ubiquitous and increasingly in natural areas. | Native of China. Escaped from suburban plantings in AL, NC, KY (Clark et al. 2005) and elsewhere. To be expected throughout the Flora region. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex crenata | Japanese Holly | Planted as a landscaping shrub, escaped into forests in suburban areas. | Native of Japan. First reported for NC by Pittillo & Brown (1988). |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex curtissii | Suwanee Possum-haw, Curtiss's Holly | Floodplains and moist forests in the Suwanee River drainage. | Apparently endemic to the Suwannee River drainage of s. GA and n. FL. | |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex cuthbertii | Cuthbert Holly | Upland circumneutral woodlands and forests. | Endemic to an area along the Fall Line in SC and adjacent GA (Krakow 1989). |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex decidua | Possum-haw, Bearberry | Floodplain forests, less commonly on mesic (or even dry), upland slopes. | MD south to Panhandle FL (western peninsula), west to TX on the Coastal Plain, extending also to adjacent provinces (the Piedmont and rarely Mountains in our area), and extending north in the interior to c. TN, w. KY, s. IL, c. MO, se. KS, and e. OK; an unnamed variety occurs in the Sierra Madre Oriental of e. Mexico. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex glabra | Little Gallberry, Inkberry | Pine savannas, pine flatwoods, pocosin margins, swamps, primarily in wetlands, but extending upslope even into longleaf pine sandhills, with a clay lens or spodic horizon below to maintain additional moisture. | NS and ME south to s. FL, west to e. LA and barely w. LA (Pointe Coupee Parish). |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex krugiana var. krugiana | Krug’s Holly, Tawnyberry Holly | Pine rocklands, rockland hammocks. | S. FL; West Indies (Bahamas, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico). |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex laevigata | Smooth Winterberry | Pocosins, other wet, acidic sites, such as in small blackwater stream swamps. | ME and NY south to SC, mostly near the coast. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex latifolia | Luster-leaf Holly, Tarajo | Uncommonly used horticulturally, sometimes persistent or weakly escaping. | Native of e. Asia. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex longipes | Georgia Holly, Chapman's Holly, Buckbush | Upland forests. | Sc. NC, sc. TN (Chester, Wofford, & Kral 1997), and wc. AR south to Panhandle FL, s. MS, and se. TX. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex montana | Mountain Holly | Mesic forests, rarely bogs or bog edges. | W. MA and w. NY south to n. GA (reports from n. AL seem to be based on misidentifications), essentially an Appalachian endemic. The range of this species is sometimes stated or shown as broader, extending into the Coastal Plain in our area, and as far south as n. FL, LA, and e. TX, but these reports are based on misidentifications, primarily of the "beadlei" component of I. ambigua. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex mucronata | Catberry, Nemopanthus, Mountain Holly | Bogs, sedge meadows, high elevation glades, and moist, high-elevation forests. | NL (Newfoundland) west to ON and MN, south to MD, WV, OH, IN, and IL (and allegedly in VA, according to Fernald 1950). C.W. Short's collection of this species in 1840 in "wet lands of Henderson County", KY is well documented (M. Brock, pers.comm., 2024). |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex myrtifolia | Myrtle Holly | Limesink (doline) ponds, pocosins, wet pine savannas. | A Southeastern Coastal Plain endemic: se. NC south to n. peninsular FL and west to e. LA (and possibly se. TX?). |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex opaca | American Holly, Christmas Holly, White Holly | In a wide variety of forests, ranging from xeric to wetland. | MA (? NS and ME), IL, MO, and OK south to c. peninsular FL (apparently naturalized only in s. FL) and TX. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex verticillata | Winterberry, "Black Alder", Fevertree | Bogs, pocosins, swampy forests. | NL (Newfoundland) west to MN, south to Panhandle FL and se. TX. |  |
| Aquifoliaceae | Ilex vomitoria | Yaupon | Maritime forests, other dry sandy forests, shrublands, and disturbed areas. | Widespread in the Southeastern United States, primarily on the Coastal Plain, from e. VA (from Northampton County south) south to c. peninsular FL and west to se. TX; Cuba; Mexico (CHP). In NC and VA, yaupon is nearly restricted to maritime habitats, on the barrier islands and in a narrow band on the mainland, in forests with substantial maritime influence, but is more general southwards in GA, FL, and the Gulf coast. I. vomitoria is increasingly popular as an ornamental shrub, and is persistent or establishing inland in areas outside its native distribution, especially in suburban woodlands. The species may have been substantially moved around by American Indians prior to European contact. |  |
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