''Ilex perado'', the Macaronesian holly, is a species of

holly ''Ilex'' () or holly is a genus of over 570 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. ''Ilex'' has the most species of any woody dioecious angiosperm genus. The species are evergreen o ...

endemic to

Macaronesia Macaronesia (; ) is a collection of four volcanic archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlantic, North Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North Africa and Europe. Each archipelago is made up of a number of list of islands in the Atlantic Oc ...

, distributed throughout the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

and

Canary Canary originally referred to the Spanish island of Gran Canaria in the North Atlantic Ocean and the surrounding Canary Islands. It may also refer to: Animals Birds * Canaries, birds in the genera '' Serinus'' and '' Crithagra'' including, among ...

islands. It is an important component of the natural high-altitude Macaronesian rainforest, known as '

laurisilva Laurel forest, also called laurisilva or laurissilva, is a type of subtropical forest found in areas with high humidity and relatively stable, mild temperatures. The forest is characterized by broadleaf tree species with evergreen, glossy and el ...

', found mostly at altitude but it also appears in forest formations at lower elevation. Many of the subspecies have been classified as threatened, probably because of very small population sizes, and are protected by local, national and regional legislation.

Description

''Ilex perado'' is a small

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

tree growing up to in height, occasionally up to , it is

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

and has white to pink flowers and red

toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...

berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone fruit, stone or pit (fruit), pit although many wikt:pip#Etymology 2, pips or seeds may be p ...

, slightly bigger than those of a common holly Its leaves are oblong, leathery dark green on top and a lighter color on the bottom and it as a smooth, grey trunk.

Distribution and habitat

''Ilex perado'' is native to the Azores, where it is found in all of the islands, the island of

(mostly in the central and northern parts) and the Canary Islands in northern

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

La Gomera La Gomera () is one of Spain's Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa. With an area of , it is the third-smallest of the archipelago's eight main islands. It belongs to the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. La Gomer ...

and

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...

. It grows on steep slopes and in the bottom of ravines, in areas with moist soils. It is a common tree of

and high-altitude forests and can reach non-laurisilva stands in Madeira into the

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

. There are 4 known subspecies: *''I. perado'' subsp. ''perado'' – Endemic to the Madeira archipelago. The population is stable and is thought to be much less than 10,000 adult individuals. *''I. perado'' subsp. ''azorica'' (

Loes. Ludwig Eduard Theodor Lösener (23 November 1865 – 2 June 1941) was a German botanist who collected widely in the field in Germany: Amrum island (1912), the Alps, the Black Forest, Bavaria, Rügen island and Tyrol in modern Austria. His speciali ...

)

Tutin Tutin may refer to: Places *Tutin, Serbia, town in Serbia Surname * Arthur Tutin (1907–1961), English footballer *Dorothy Tutin (1930–2001), English actress *Mary Tutin, maiden name of Mary Gillick (1881–1965), English sculptor *Tom Tutin ...

(synonym ''Ilex azorica'' ) – Native to all of the Azorean islands. *''I. perado'' subsp. ''lopezlilloi'' (G. Kunkel) A. Hansen & Sunding – Endemic to

. Extremely threatened subspecies with only two known specimens found in the wild. Assessed as '

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

' by the IUCN. *''I. perado'' subsp. ''platyphylla'' (Webb & Berthel.) Tutin (synonym ''Ilex platyphylla'' ) – Native to

and

in the Canary Islands. Assessed as ' vulnerable' by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

. Records of the species from the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

(as ''Ilex perado'' subsp. ''iberica'') are thought to be misidentified and refer to ''I. aquifolium''. This species has numerous subspecies that are thought to potentially be separate species, but more research is needed to determine if this is in fact true. Research has been carried out for ''Ilex perado'' subsp. ''azorica'', indicating that it differs genetically from the subpopulations on the Canary Islands. The species has been cultivated in Britain since 1760 (thriving well in the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

), and is also grown in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, the Iberian Peninsula, and South America.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10301054 perado Endemic flora of Macaronesia Flora of the Azores Flora of Madeira Flora of the Canary Islands Trees of Europe Plants described in 1789