1-12 Ilex (pernyi x aquifolium ) ‘Dragon Slayer’ Female
Registered: July 10, 2012
George Machen
278 Marina Road
Foster, Virginia 23056
The selection originated as a result of controlled hybridizing in the breeding program at the U.S. National Arboretum. The original plant was discovered in 1992 at the Hampton Roads Ornamental Research Station in Virginia Beach, Virginia, which was received from the U.S. National Arboretum, possibly as NA 28231.
The evergreen holly tree exhibits an upright conical shape. This hybrid grows 4.6 m (15ft) – 6.1 m (20 ft) tall by 1.2 m (4ft) – 1.8m (6 ft) wide, with a herringbone branching habit. Average growth is about 22.5 cm (9 in). The leaves of ‘Dragon Slayer’ are spiny, glossy, coriaceous and glabrous. The largest leaves are 6.0 cm (2 3/8 in) long by 4.0 (1 9/16 in) wide and are oblong to quadrangular in outline, with margins entire, spined - with two to three small spines per side and undulate. The leaf apex is acuminate, with a small mucronate tip spine of 2 mm (1/16 in), while the bases are rounded to cuneate and grows convex in side view and spinose in top view. Leaf color is olive green, Green Group 139A above and Green Group 137C on the underside of the Royal Horticulture Colour Chart, 1995. The fruit are red, Red Group 44A round in shape, 7 mm (1/4 in) to 1.1 cm (7/16 in) in diameter, with peduncles to 6 mm (3/16 in).
Plants have been grown since 1992 at Mobjack Nurseries at 4208 East River Road in Mobjack, Virginia, and have been sold in Washington, D.C. to Long Island, New York. Plants have also been hardiness tested in Concord, Massachusetts. Selection was based on a wider, fuller growth habit and tolerates poorer soils than I. (pernyi x aquifolium ) ‘Meschick’, Dragon Lady. This selection is also slower growing and smaller in overall habit than I. (cornuta x aquifolium) ‘Nellie R. Stevens’.
Voucher specimens are on deposit in the herbarium of the U.S. National Arboretum (NA), Washington, D.C. 20002.