Holly has spiny evergreen leaves and red berries on the female trees. The bark is thick and relatively smooth. They can reach a height from 50 feet with a 2 foot diameter.
When milled, the sapwood is white and the heartwood is an ivory white with a bluish cast or streaks. It has no characteristic odor or taste and is heavy, hard, close grained and tough, with a low luster like ivory.
Holly is a domestic wood that is excellent turning, carving, and inlay. Very rare due to the slow rate of growth and small size of the trees that are harvested. Holly must be cut in winter to avoid blue-stain or graying of the wood. Holly has a very close irregular grain with little or no dicernable figure.
American holly grows from Massachusettes, Connecticut and New York, southwest to Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri and Oklahoma, south to Texas and east to Florida.
When milled, the sapwood is white and the heartwood is an ivory white with a bluish cast or streaks. It has no characteristic odor or taste and is heavy, hard, close grained and tough, with a low luster like ivory.
Holly is a domestic wood that is excellent turning, carving, and inlay. Very rare due to the slow rate of growth and small size of the trees that are harvested. Holly must be cut in winter to avoid blue-stain or graying of the wood. Holly has a very close irregular grain with little or no dicernable figure.
American holly grows from Massachusettes, Connecticut and New York, southwest to Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri and Oklahoma, south to Texas and east to Florida.