American holly ranges from Massachusetts to Florida, west to Texas, and north to Missouri, and in Delaware’s Coastal Plain and Piedmont it grows in moist sandy woods and swamps. It is a non-deciduous tree thirty to sixty feet tall with a narrow conical crown, alternate dark green leaves that are thick and leathery with spine-tipped teeth, white or cream flowers from May to June, and red fleshy fruit that persists into winter. It became the Delaware State Tree in 1939. Its fruits are used by gamebirds and songbirds, its persistent leaves provide winter cover for many birds and small mammals, and it is a food plant for the woodland elfin butterfly.