ilex

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various trees or shrubs of the genus Ilex; holly.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of trees and shrubs, of the natural order Ilicineæ, or holly tribe. It is characterized by having the flowers more or less diœciously polygamous; the calyx small, and with 4 to 6 teeth; the corolla rotate, and divided into 4, rarely 5 or 6, parts; 4 to 6 stamens; and an ovary with 4 to 6, rarely 7 or 8, cells forming a berry-like drupe. The plants of this genus have alternate, often thick, evergreen leaves, and white flowers, usually axillary. It comprehends about 145 species, many of which are natives of Central America, others occurring throughout the tropical and temperate regions of the globe, being represented least frequently in Africa and Australia. Among the most remarkable of them are: I. Aquifolium, the common holly (see holly); I. Balearica, the broad-leafed holly of Minorca, a very handsome species; and I. Paraguayensis, whose leaves are consumed in large quantities in South America, under the name of Paraguay tea or maté. (See Paraguay tea, under tea.) I. verticillata is the Virginia winterberry or black alder. I. Cassine is the yaupon. I. lævigata is the smooth winterberry of the eastern United States; I. Dahoon, the dahoon holly of Virginia and southward. I. sideroxyloides of the West Indies is a large tree called Dominica oak. The genus is widely known in a fossil state, some 50 or 60 extinct species having been described, chiefly from the Miocene of Europe, but ranging from the Middle Cretaceous to the Quaternary. Several occur in the Green River Group (Eocene) of the Rocky Mountain region.
2. n. [lowercase] A tree or shrub of this genus.
3. n. The holm-oak or holly-oak, Quercus Ilex, the leaves of which somewhat resemble those of the genus Ilex. See cut (fig. 4) under oak, 1.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The holm oak (Quercus Ilex).
2. n. A genus of evergreen trees and shrubs, including the common holly.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a large genus of dicotyledonous trees and shrubs of the family Aquifoliaceae that have small flowers and berries (including hollies)