Holly Inkberry 'Shamrock'
(Ilex glabra 'Shamrock')
- Type: Evergreen
- Light: Sun to part shade
- Height: 3-5'
- Spread: 3-5'
- Flower: White
- Bloom: Spring
- Fruit: Black
- Fruit Time: Fall/Winter
Ilex glabra, commonly called inkberry or gallberry, is a slow-growing, upright-rounded, stoloniferous, broadleaf evergreen shrub in the holly family. It typically matures to 5-8’ tall, and can spread by root suckers to form colonies. It is native to the coastal plain from Nova Scotia to Florida to Louisiana where it is most commonly found in sandy woods and peripheries of swamps and bogs. Dried and roasted inkberry leaves were first used by Native Americans to brew a black tea-like drink, hence the sometimes used common name of Appalachian tea for this shrub.