Holly
Ilex aquifoliumHolly is an evergreen, most often a small tree in hedges and woods. Its glossy leaves are spiny low down and almost smooth higher up. Only female trees carry the red berries.
How to identify holly →
Lookalikes
Holly or holm oak?
Young holm oaks have spiny leaves too.
The quickest check
The quickest check is the leaf underside. Holly: pale and matt. Holm oak: greyish fawn with a coat of hairs. No leaves on the tree? Check the fruit.
At a glance
| Look at | Holly | Holm oak |
|---|---|---|
| Leaf underside | Pale and matt | Greyish fawn with a coat of hairs |
| Fruit | Round crimson berries, up to 12 mm, in clusters | Small pointed acorns, 15 to 20 mm, in hairy cups |
Two ways to tell them apart
Leaf undersideLeaves
FruitBerries
The two trees
Holm oak
Quercus ilexHolm oak is an evergreen tree with a huge, dense, rounded crown. Its oval leaves are glossy blackish green on top and fuzzy greyish fawn underneath.
How to identify holm oak →
In the app
See them side by side in Treely
- Both trees, part by partLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed through the year
- Every lookalike side by sideThe checks that settle it, for every pair people mix up
- A short round each dayUntil you can tell them apart at a glance
- The full GuideBoth trees written up in full, with where to find them
Free to download.
Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.
Photographs: twig777 (CC0), sim_elliott (CC0), Glossysun (Sunny Pearce) (CC BY 4.0), Louis Aureglia (CC BY 4.0), cjoynson (CC0), Matthew Vosper (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.