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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