WINTERBERRY
During the Christmas season, many people use Holly leaves and berries to decorate their homes. Although many of these Holly plant species are not native to this area, there is one species that is native. That species is the Winterberry (Ilex verticillata [L.] Asa Gray).
Winterberry is a member of the Order Aquifoliales and of the Family Aquifoliaceae. Previous scientific names for this species were Ilex bronxensis Britton, I. fastigiata E. P. Bricknell, Prinos confertus Moench, P. gronovii Michaux, and P. verticillatus L.
Other common names for this species are Black Alder, Black Alder Winterberry, Brook Alder, Canada Holly, Common Winterberry, Common Winterberry Holly, Coralberry, Deciduous Holly, Deciduous Winterberry, False Alder, Fever Bush, Fire Bush, Inkberry, Michigan Holly, Possumhaw, Striped Alder, Swamp Holly, Virginian Winterberry, White Alder, and Winterberry Holly. Some of these other names are also names for other Holly species.
DESCRIPTION OF THE WINTERBERRY
Height: Its height is 3-25 feet. It is a shrub or a small tree.
Crown: Its crown is upright and is oval. It is spreading with dense, zigzag, stout, multi-branches.
Twigs: Its twigs are slender, and have light colored circular lenticels. The younger twigs are red-purple, green, olive-brown, or purple-brown, and hairy. The older twigs are gray or gray-brown and hairless. The leaf scars are alternate, are elevated, and are U-shaped with 1 bundle scar. The pith is white and is chambered. White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmermann) may browse upon the twigs.
Buds: Its end buds are blunt with broadly pointed scales. The younger buds are red-brown or tan brown. The older buds are silvery gray. The lateral buds are alternate and project away from the twig. These lateral buds may be superimposed over other buds.
Leaves: Its leaves are simple, alternate, and deciduous. Each leaf is about 1½-4 inches long, about 1 inch wide, and is elliptic, oval, lanceolate, obovate, or oblanceolate. The leaf is widest above the middle. Its tip is pointed and its base is narrowly V-shaped. It is a dull dark green above and is lighter and hairy below. Its margins have coarsely serrated or doubly-serrated teeth and have no spines. Its petiole is green or purplish, grooved, and is about ½ inches long with small dark stipules at the base. These leaves turn black after a hard frost. White-tailed Deer may eat these leaves.
Flowers: Its flowers are arranged in axillary clusters of 1-10 and are borne upon the leaf axils. These flowers are dioecious. Each flower is white or greenish white and is about ¼-½ inches wide. The male (staminate) flowers have a corolla of 4-6 rounded or ovate petals, a calyx of 4-6 teeth, and 4-6 stamens. The female (pistillate) flowers have a corolla of 6-8 rounded or ovate petals, a calyx of 6-8 teeth, and a central ovary with a sessile stigma at the apex. Flowering season is April to August.
Fruit: Its fruit is a berry-like drupe. They are borne upon a short stalk and are solitary or are clustered near the leaves. Each fruit is round, waxy, bright red (sometimes yellow or orange), and are about ¼ inches wide. Its pulp is fleshy. Over 20 species of birds eat them. Some of them include Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus L.), Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo L.), Northern Bobwhite Quail (Colinus virginiatum L.), Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum Vieillot), Eastern Bluebird (Sialis sialis L.), American Robin (Turdus migratorius L.), and White-throated Sparrow (Zonotricha albicollis Gmelin). Fruiting season is August to October. These fruits persist throughout the winter.
Seeds: Its seeds are tiny, smooth, bony nutlets or stones. Each fruit has 3-6 nutlets with each one placed atop a small stalk.
Bark: Its bark is smooth and is gray, gray-green, gray brown, brown, or black. It has numerous warty lenticels that enlarge with age. The outer bark splits into a diamond-like pattern.
Roots: Its roots are shallow and woody. They do not send up shoots. They do have bacteria-fixing nodules.
Habitat: Its habitats mainly consist of wet woodlands, wet thickets, swamps, marshes, and stream banks. They prefer acidic soils.
Range: Its range covers southeastern Canada and most of the eastern U.S. Its western limit crosses the Mississippi River in a few places. It is the only Holly plant native to Canada and to the northern Midwest.
Toxicity of the Winterberry:
All parts of the winterberry are toxic to humans, pets, and livestock. The most toxic part is the fruit. These fruits contain high amounts of caffeine and the alkaloid theobromine. Ingestion of these fruits can cause various stomach and intestinal ailments, dizziness, high pulse rates, low blood pressure, blurred vision, and convulsions.
Uses of the Winterberry:
Although Winterberry can be toxic to humans, this plant did have some uses medicinal uses. The inner bark was used as an antiseptic, an astringent, a cathartic, an emetic, and a tonic. The root bark and stalks were used for treating jaundice, fevers, liver ailments, and intestinal troubles. The roots were also used to treat hay fever. The berries were used as an emetic, a purgative, and a vermifuge.
The leaves were brewed as a tea substitute. These leaves were gathered fresh in the summer then dried brown in the sun or in an oven at 200 degrees F. Unlike other Holly teas, this tea contains no caffeine.
The Winterberry is cultivated as an attractive ornamental plant. It is highly resistant to insects and to diseases. It was first cultivated in 1736.
REFERENCES
MEDICINAL AND OTHER USES OF NORTH AMERICAN PLANTS
By Charlotte Erichsen-Brown
FOREST PLANTS OF CENTRAL CANADA
By Brenda Chambers, Karen Legasy, and Cathy V. Bentley
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EDIBLE PLANTS OF NORTH AMERICA
By Francois Couplan, Ph. D.
EDIBLE WILD PLANTS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA
By Merritt Lyndon Fernald and Alfred Charles Kinsey
ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO TREES AND SHRUBS
By Arthur Harmount Graves
THE ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF WILDFLOWERS AND SHRUBS
By William Carey Grimm
EAT THE WEEDS
By Ben Charles Harris
TREES OF ILLINOIS
By Linda Kershaw
NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION FIELD GUIDE TO TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
By Bruce Kershner, Daniel Mathews, Gil Nelson, and Richard Spellenberg
SHRUBS AND WOODY VINES OF MISSOURI
By Don Kurz
TREES OF THE CENTRAL HARDWOOD FORESTS OF NORTH AMERICA
By Donald J. Leopold, William C. McComb, and Robert N. Mullet
AMERICAN MEDICINAL PLANTS
By Charles F. Millspaugh
NATIVE AMERICAN MEDICINAL PLANTS
By Daniel E. Moerman
POISONOUS PLANTS OF THE UNITED STATES
By Walter Conrad Muenscher
TREES OF EASTERN NORTH AMEICA
By Gil Nelson, Christopher J. Earle, and Richard Spelling
NEWCOMB’S WILDFLOWER GUIDE
By Lawrence Newcomb and Gordon Morrison
EASTERN TREES
By George A. Petrides and Janet Wehr
TREES AND SHRUBS
By George A. Petrides
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF WILD SHRUBS AND VINES
By Donald W. Stokes
NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY FIELD GUIDE TO NORTH AMERICAN WILDFLOWERS (EASTERN REGION)
By John W. Thieret, William A. Niering, and Nancy C. Olmstead
THE USES OF WILD PLANTS
By Frank Tozer
SHRUBS AND WOODY VINES OF INDIANA AND THE MIDWEST
By Sally S. Weeks and Harmon P. Weeks, Jr.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilex_verticillata
www.illinoiswildflowers.info/trees/plants/winterberry.htm