Ilex opaca (male) 'Jersey Knight'

Ilex opaca 'Jersey Knight' is a male American holly bred for one essential job, pollination, and vigorous enough to stand on merit besides. Selected from the wild in New Jersey in 1945, this clone carries dark, semi-glossy, olive-green leaves on a strong pyramidal frame that holds branches right to the ground, a full, handsome evergreen that happens to bear no fruit.

American hollies are dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate trees, and only females set the red berries the plant is loved for. Without a male in range those females bloom and drop bare, so a pollinizer is not optional but necessary, and 'Jersey Knight' is among the most dependable, blooming in step with popular female clones and setting them thick with fruit. One male will service several females planted nearby.

The species is the familiar American holly, Ilex opaca, native across the eastern United States and named for the opaque, matte surface of the leaf that separates the tree from the glossy hollies of Asia and Europe. Tough, long-lived, and adaptable, American holly has anchored Southern and Eastern landscapes for centuries, and named male and female clones take the guesswork out of a tree that varies widely from seed.

Plant 'Jersey Knight' wherever female American hollies need a partner, and let the vigorous, dense, olive-green pyramid double as a screen, a windbreak, or a background evergreen in full sun to part shade and moist, acidic, well-drained soil. A large male such as this one covers a wide radius of females, so a single tree tucked into the back of a planting can light a whole group of hollies with winter berries.