Festive Facts about Holly

There are over 500 species of holly. This means that there are more species of holly than there are people who care how many species of holly there are.

Nordic and Celtic tradition encourages decorating the home with holly during the winter months because nothing says “great idea!” like keeping your children indoors with attractively bright and poisonous berries.

If a holly tree has berries, it is a female. That is exactly the opposite of how it is with humans.

Holly berries aren’t berries at all, but drupes. If you remind people of this often enough you’ll get to hear the word “pedantic” used in a sentence.

Ilex ternatiflora was a species of holly endemic to Cuba. It is now extinct because Castro had them all shot.

Ilex paraguariensis, a species of holly endemic to South America, can be made into a tea, called mate. Mate has a wonderful earthy vegetable, grassy flavor that most of us look for in a drink. I recommend that you try it after you’ve sampled every other beverage in the world and want closure…

Holly was considered protection against lightning strikes so they were often planted near homes. They also protection against your barefoot children not being crippled by their pointed leaves.

Twenty holly berries can be fatal to a child, but they usually catch on to what you are trying to do after you’ve fed them five or six of them…

Holly plants are any plants of the genus Ilex. Fossil records show that holly has been around since at least the Cretaceous period. These fossils were embedded in chalk, indicating that holly trees, early in their evolution, might have been public school teachers.

In some parts of the Scottish highlands, boys would whip each other with holly boughs to bring in the new year. Each drop of blood is supposed to bring another year of good fortune. Suddenly, the soccer riots make sense…