Grèvol (Ilex aquifolium)
The holly has the appearance of a very dense and branchy shrub or of a tree that reaches up to 12 m in size. The bark and branches are gray and smooth. The leaves are persistent, simple, alternate, more or less oval and generally with a margin full of thorns. They measure up to 8 cm long, are dark-green and hairless on both sides, which differentiates them from those of the kermes oak (Quercus coccifera L.), which are much smaller and lighter, or from those of the holm oak, which are somewhat smaller and have a velvety underside. Both holm oaks and kermes oaks live in much drier environments than holly.
Its leaves are used as livestock fodder in winter and especially as a Christmas decoration, especially if they are accompanied by the ripe red fruits. This practice apparently originates from symbolically associating the crown of thorns of Christ with its pointed leaves and the drops of blood with its red fruits. In addition, with its bark the league is prepared, a gum used in the capture of birds, currently prohibited for this purpose. Holly is also widely used as an ornamental plant, it holds up very well to pruning and has numerous landscaping varieties that enhance the thorns or tint its deep green with white or yellow edges or spots.
Holly wood is of very good quality, hard and so dense that it does not float on water, so it would not be useful in the shipbuilding industry. It is prized by cabinetmakers for making handles, gun butts and for staining well in black and imitating ebony; It is also highly valued as firewood, to make charcoal and by shepherds to make resistant sticks. In this sense, Miguel de Cervantes tells in chap. XIII of Don Quixote: «Some shepherds came towards them and each one brought a thick stick of holly in his hand...». And the poet and military man from Toledo Garcilaso de la Vega writes in his poems: «In there, deep down, is a young man, / crowned with laurel and in his hand / a stick, proper like me, made of holly»
Finally, I would like to add that Holly is protected throughout the territory by Andorran, Spanish and Portuguese legislation. In addition, it appears in the catalogs of protected or threatened species of numerous Spanish autonomous communities. If it is going to be used as a Christmas decoration, you should make sure that it comes from nurseries or that its exploitation is sustainable and legal.
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Carla Floresa