Ilex myrtifolia (syn. I. cassine var. myrtifolia)

Myrtle-leaf Dahoon Holly. Dr. Michael Dirr of the University of Georgia gave me a collection of Dahoon Hollies, Ilex cassine, some years back, and I was attracted to this one in particular over all of the others. There is a beautiful similar selection of this plant in the S. C. Botanical Gardens at Clemson University, which I planted in 1967, but the leaves are slightly wider, and it was labelled Ilex cassine var. angustifolia. But the leaves of this are much narrower. After much research and contemplation, I think that this plant is better named Ilex myrtifolia. My first job out of graduate school was teaching in north Florida. Throughout the pine barrons of south Georgia, it was the predominant understory plant under the longleaf pines, Pinus palustris. This particular selection is a female, and  it produces a copious crop of berries; although, I don't know which other holly species is pollinating it. It could possibly be our native Ilex opaca, of which we have quite a few surroundin