Plant Image Data Base
Ilex glabra
Inkberry
- Form
- medium-sized evergreen shrub (cultivars are
smaller)
- species form maturing at 6' tall by 6' wide
- upright oval growth habit, becoming spreading
- slow growth rate
- Culture
- full sun to full shade (best in partial sun to
partial shade)
- prefers moist to wet, acidic soils but is
somewhat adaptable to various soils, their pHs,
and dry to wet sites
- Holly Family, with only leaf spot as an
occasional cosmetic disease problem, and
virtually no pest problems
- tolerates light to moderate shearing to promote
compactness
- fertilize if foliage becomes chlorotic
(chartreuse to light green, instead of dark
green)
- Foliage
- evergreen, alternate, narrow obovate, and dark
green (lighter green in alkaline soils,
especially in Winter)
- Function
- shrub for foundations, borders, group plantings,
mass plantings, formal or informal hedges,
backgrounds, specimens, or naturalized areas
- Assets
- broadleaf evergreen shrub
- wet site tolerant
- full sun to full shade adaptable
- takes well to shearing
- much more cold hardy than Japanese Holly (Ilex
crenata), with which it is sometimes confused
and interchangeably used in Southern climates
- Purpose
- Inkberry is a broadleaf evergreen shrub that is
tolerant of continually moist to wet sites, with
good broadleaf evergreen character and cultivars
that are much more compact than the species form.
- Summary
- Ilex glabra is one of the very few
evergreen shrubs (broadleaf or narrow leaf) to
thrive in wet sites, noted for its evergreen
foliage and upright, spreading, and suckering
shrub growth habit when in species form, but the
compact cultivars serve as an alternative to
Boxwood (Buxus) in situations where a
refined but taller and faster growing broadleaf
evergreen is needed, and an alternative to
Japanese Holly (Ilex crenata) where a more
cold-hardy broadleaf evergreen is needed.
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