North Carolina Native Plant Society

Leaves

Beargrass is easy to identify by its sharp, thick, evergreen leaves in a mounded basal rosette and the long, curly filaments on the leaf margins.

Paynter, Wilmington, 4/30/2010

Common in dunes, woods and roadsides of the coast, piedmont and mountains. Note from Jack Spruill: "The leaves / blades of this plant are very strong. I remember when people who smoked herrings would use the split blades of beargrass to tie the herrings into small bundles to be hung in a smoke house. Even through suitable cord was widely available, it was the tradition to use split beargrass blades."

Max Patch

Old Leaves & New Bloom

Tom Harville

Buds

Tom Harville

Blooms

Tom Harville
Mid March

Blooms Close Up

Tom Harville
Mid March

Leaves Early Spring

Tom Harville

Note that the mottling develops over the winter.

Leaves, Early Fall

Tom Harville

New Leaves

Pete Schubert
Early April '10

Note the one whitish leaf. There's no obvious explanation but we will watch it in years to come.

Leaves

Buds, Blooms and Faded Blooms

Male plant in bloom

Jack Spruill, 4/28/09, Hampstead

From Jack Spruill - As with all the Ilex that I know, the male plants have many more flowers than do the females.

Female plant

Females must be near a male plant to set fruit. This one was 25' from the preceding male tree so it has a heavy berry set.

Jack Spruill, 4/28/09, Hampstead

Fruits

David Paynter, Wilmington, 2/1/2011

Bark of a mature tree.

The bark is normally gray and smooth. This one is unusually beautiful.

Jack Spruill, 12/21/06, Hampstead

Bark on a very old tree.

Jack Spruill, 6/29/09, Albemarle Sound

From Jack: Here is a very old Ilex opaca on my farm on the Albemarle Sound. This tree is very tall. I do not know if it is a male or female. Often I can tell the sex of the American Holly by examining its leaves. The leaves of a male tend to be smaller than the leaves of the female.

Upper leaflets

Tom Harville

Lower Leaflets

Tom Harville

Leaflet Differences

Tom Harville

Buds

Tom Harville

Blooms

Tom Harville

Plants

Debbie Hunter

Plant

Debbie Hunter

Blooms

Debbie Hunter

Plants

Roan Mountain