{"id":1714,"date":"2014-12-03T18:18:56","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T18:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/?p=1714"},"modified":"2014-12-03T18:18:56","modified_gmt":"2014-12-03T18:18:56","slug":"2014-botanical-advent-calendar-day-3-ilex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2014\/12\/03\/2014-botanical-advent-calendar-day-3-ilex\/","title":{"rendered":"2014 Botanical Advent Calendar &#8211; Day 3 &#8211; Ilex"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"userContent\">3rd day of <a class=\"_58cn broken_link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hashtag\/adventbotany\">#AdventBotany<\/a> &#8211; Ilex is the only genus in the family Aquifoliacaeae. In Europe we know Holly (<em>Ilex aquifolium<\/em>) which is the third of our Christmas evergreens alongside Ivy and Mistletoe. Holly was brought in to houses in pagan <span class=\"text_exposed_show\">times to keep evil out but was then adopted by Christians as a representative of the crown of thorns at Christ&#8217;s crucifixion. However there are around 400 different holly species and many do not have prickly leaves. <em>Ilex paraguariensis<\/em> is used to make the infusion Mate, the caffeine rich national drink of Argentina. In contrast, <em>Ilex crenata<\/em> is grown in Japan, China and Korea as a small decorative shrub used in complex topiary displays.<\/span><\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1717\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1717\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/files\/2014\/12\/Ilex_pa.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1717\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/crg\/files\/2014\/12\/Ilex_pa.jpg\" alt=\"Botanical illustrations of &lt;i&gt;Ilex paraguariensis&lt;\/i&gt; (Mate) and &lt;i&gt;Ilex aquifolium&lt;\/i&gt; (Common Holly)\" width=\"600\" height=\"429\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2014\/12\/Ilex_pa.jpg 960w, https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2014\/12\/Ilex_pa-300x215.jpg 300w, https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2014\/12\/Ilex_pa-768x550.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1717\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Botanical illustrations of Ilex paraguariensis (Mate) and Ilex aquifolium (Common Holly)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Common European Holly has numerous cultivars varying in the pricklyness of the leaves, colour of the berries and variegation of the leaves. Some cultivars are chosen to be extra pricly while others for their distinct lack of prickles.\u00a0 The photos below show three of the Hollies growing in the Harris Garden.\u00a0 Ilex aquifolium and several of its cultivars are <a title=\"Ilex AGM\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rhs.org.uk\/plants\/details?plantid=6332\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">RHS AGM<\/a> plants.<\/p>\n<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-1714 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/ilex_aquifoliumredberry\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2014\/12\/Ilex_aquifoliumRedBerry-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-1720\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-1720'>\n\t\t\t\tWild-type Holly\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/ilexvariegated\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2014\/12\/IlexVariegated-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-1719\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-1719'>\n\t\t\t\tYellow variegated leaves\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/ilexyellowberry\/'><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2014\/12\/IlexYellowBerry-150x150.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-1718\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-1718'>\n\t\t\t\tYellow berries\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>A hybrid between <i>I. aquifolium<\/i> and the tender species <i>I. perado<\/i> from the Macaronesian islands<i> <\/i>was bred in 1835 just down the road from us at Highclere Castle and is known as <i>Ilex<\/i> x <i>altaclerensis<\/i>.\u00a0 It too has some good cultivars.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Chem Advent Day 1\" href=\"http:\/\/www.compoundchem.com\/2014advent2\/#day1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Holly contains theobromine<\/a>, the same stimulant found in chocolate.<\/p>\n<p>In November 2017 I acted as PhD examiner to a student who brought along a cup of yerba mate to his viva voce to sustain him. Here he is with the well filled calabash of yerba mate.<\/p>\n\n<p>See also <a title=\"Dr M advent botany\" href=\"http:\/\/drmgoeswild.com\/advent-botany\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DrMgoeswild<\/a>. For five things you might not know about holly read <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plantlife.org.uk\/uk\/blog\/5-festive-facts-about-holly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">Plant Life<\/a>&#8216;s blog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>3rd day of #AdventBotany &#8211; Ilex is the only genus in the family Aquifoliacaeae. In Europe we know Holly (Ilex aquifolium) which is the third of our Christmas evergreens alongside&#8230;<a class=\"read-more\" href=\"&#104;&#116;&#116;&#112;&#115;&#58;&#47;&#47;&#114;&#101;&#115;&#101;&#97;&#114;&#99;&#104;&#46;&#114;&#101;&#97;&#100;&#105;&#110;&#103;&#46;&#97;&#99;&#46;&#117;&#107;&#47;&#104;&#101;&#114;&#98;&#97;&#114;&#105;&#117;&#109;&#47;&#50;&#48;&#49;&#52;&#47;&#49;&#50;&#47;&#48;&#51;&#47;&#50;&#48;&#49;&#52;&#45;&#98;&#111;&#116;&#97;&#110;&#105;&#99;&#97;&#108;&#45;&#97;&#100;&#118;&#101;&#110;&#116;&#45;&#99;&#97;&#108;&#101;&#110;&#100;&#97;&#114;&#45;&#100;&#97;&#121;&#45;&#51;&#45;&#105;&#108;&#101;&#120;&#47;\">Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":1721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[52,54],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-1714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent","category-public-engagement-with-science","tag-adventbotany"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>2014 Botanical Advent Calendar - Day 3 - Ilex - Herbarium RNG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2014\/12\/03\/2014-botanical-advent-calendar-day-3-ilex\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2014 Botanical Advent Calendar - Day 3 - Ilex - Herbarium RNG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"3rd day of #AdventBotany &#8211; Ilex is the only genus in the family Aquifoliacaeae. In Europe we know Holly (Ilex aquifolium) which is the third of our Christmas evergreens alongside...Read More &gt;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2014\/12\/03\/2014-botanical-advent-calendar-day-3-ilex\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Herbarium RNG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PlantDiversity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-03T18:18:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2014\/12\/Ilex_aquifoliumDay3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"629\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alastair Culham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@RNGherb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@RNGherb\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alastair Culham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2014\/12\/03\/2014-botanical-advent-calendar-day-3-ilex\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2014\/12\/03\/2014-botanical-advent-calendar-day-3-ilex\/\",\"name\":\"2014 Botanical Advent Calendar - Day 3 - Ilex - Herbarium RNG\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-03T18:18:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-03T18:18:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/#\/schema\/person\/773479130137793cfd19c5afee34a6c2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2014\/12\/03\/2014-botanical-advent-calendar-day-3-ilex\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2014\/12\/03\/2014-botanical-advent-calendar-day-3-ilex\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2014\/12\/03\/2014-botanical-advent-calendar-day-3-ilex\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2014 Botanical Advent Calendar &#8211; Day 3 &#8211; Ilex\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/\",\"name\":\"Herbarium RNG\",\"description\":\"Excellence in plant science since 1897\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/#\/schema\/person\/773479130137793cfd19c5afee34a6c2\",\"name\":\"Alastair Culham\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b62061ee61f0c9332a3c756afc1eca11558ede4ac9e671e4411947ae4875c06b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b62061ee61f0c9332a3c756afc1eca11558ede4ac9e671e4411947ae4875c06b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alastair Culham\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/author\/a-culhamreading-ac-uk\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"2014 Botanical Advent Calendar - Day 3 - Ilex - Herbarium RNG","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/herbarium\/2014\/12\/03\/2014-botanical-advent-calendar-day-3-ilex\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"2014 Botanical Advent Calendar - Day 3 - Ilex - Herbarium RNG","og_description":"3rd day of #AdventBotany &#8211; Ilex is the only genus in the family Aquifoliacaeae. 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