Biology
Holy tolerates shade and often grows as an untidy shrub in woodland. © Frank Vincentz, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
Holly is not particularly tolerant of cold, mainly because it has thin bark which provides only limited protection from frost - this limitation is so precise that the species’ presence or absence has been used to model prehistoric climates.
It is tolerant of shade and often grows as a shrub in the understorey of woodlands, where it is better protected from the cold. These plants rarely flower.
