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Ilex crenata
Also called Box Leaf Holly, Box Leaved Holly
Japanese holly is an evergreen shrub with small glossy leaves that looks much like boxwood, widely grown for hedging and bonsai. It does best in acidic, well-drained soil and tolerates shade and pruning well.
Ilex crenata, also known as Japanese holly or box-leaved holly, is a species of flowering plant in the family Aquifoliaceae, native to East and Southeast Asia.
Ilex crenata is grown as an ornamental plant for its dense evergreen foliage, and is a popular plant among bonsai enthusiasts and suburban property developers alike. It is superficially similar in appearance to boxwood (box), and is often used in similar situations, such as low hedging; but it can readily be distinguished from boxwood by its alternate, not opposite, leaf arrangement.
Numerous cultivars have been selected, including plants with the leaves variegated (e.g. 'Golden Gem', 'Shiro-Fukurin'), dark green (e.g. 'Green Lustre'), or greyish-green (e.g. 'Bad Zwischenahn'); with yellow fruit (e.g. 'Ivory Hall'); and with an erect habit (e.g. 'Chesapeake' and 'Sky Pencil'), and spreading (e.g. 'Green Island', 'Hetzii'), or dwarf (e.g. 'Mariesii', 'Stokes'). The cultivars 'Golden Gem' and ‘Fastigiata’ (Fastigiata Group) have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
I. crenata is native to temperate and subtropical parts of eastern China (including Hainan), Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the Himalayas (Nepal, India, Tibet), Myanmar, Vietnam and Sakhalin, Russia.
English holly · Dahoon · Ilex chapaensis · Ilex chinensis · Large gallberry · Marsh Holly · Possumhaw · Inkberry · Guayusa · Elegance female holly · Ilex kaushue · Tarajo Holly
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ilex crenata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
