Native · Up to 23 m

Holly

Ilex aquifolium · Aquifoliaceae

Holly 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.

Often mistaken for holm oak. How to tell them apart →

Know it by

LeavesGlossy and spiny low down, pale and matt beneath.

BerriesBright red berries in bunches, on female trees only.

ShapeA small, dark, dense evergreen. In winter it stands out among bare trees.

Then check · BarkBrownish grey and smooth from a step back, slightly rough up close, often with small raised warts. It does not flake in reddish scales like a yew's.

How to identify a holly

Leaves

Holly leaves are hard and glossy on top and pale and matt underneath, with big triangular spines low on the tree. On older trees, the leaves near the top are mostly smooth.

Berries

From September into winter, round, shiny, bright red berries cluster close along the shoot where the leaves join it. Only female trees carry them, so a holly without berries can still be holly.

Nicola Crockford, CC BY 4.0

Shape

Holly is a dense, dark evergreen, usually only two or three metres tall, with its lower shoots often thick near the ground. In winter it stands out among the bare trees.

Learn the holly in TreelyEvery part through the year, and a short round each day until you know it.Get Treely

Every part, in photographs

Holly leaves: glossy and hard, spiny low down, smooth higher up — LeavesGlossy and hard, spiny low down, smooth higher up

Holly flowers: small white flowers where each leaf joins the twig — FlowersSmall white flowers where each leaf joins the twig

Holly berries: round red berries, on female trees only — BerriesRound red berries, on female trees only

Holly bark: smooth-looking, brownish grey, with small warts — BarkSmooth-looking, brownish grey, with small warts

ShapeSpire when young, irregular later, low shoots hanging thick

When to look

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In leaf

Flowers

Berries

In leaf: all year · Flowers: April to June · Berries: all year

Every tree on the calendar

Where you’ll find it

Woods, especially under oak and beech, and scrub, hedges, old commons, churchyards, parks and gardens. It is commonest on well-drained soils away from chalk. It is scarcer in the coldest districts.

What it’s mistaken for

Holly or holm oak?Young holm oaks have spiny leaves too.Leaf underside

Holly or yew?Both are dark evergreens of churchyards and woodland with red fruit.Shape of a leaf

Holly or strawberry tree?Both are dark evergreens holding round red fruit into the winter.Edge of a low leaf

Cherry laurelBoth are hard glossy evergreens of hedges and gardens. Leaf. Holly: big triangular spines, up to eight a side. Cherry laurel: nearly plain, a few tiny teeth.

In the app

There’s more of the holly in Treely

Every part, through the yearLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed in every season
Its lookalikes, side by sideThe checks that settle it, part by part
A short round each dayUntil you know the holly on sight, from any side
Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely tells you which tree

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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), Leon Cross (CC BY 4.0), cjoynson (CC0), Nicola Crockford (CC BY 4.0), pete_gateley (CC0), Kieran Roy Powell (CC BY 4.0), Glossysun (Sunny Pearce) (CC BY 4.0), Louis Aureglia (CC BY 4.0), Ewan Shilland (CC BY 4.0), Eleftherios Katsillis (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.