Geisha Nepal Holly. This Asian species has a number of cultivars with 'Ogon' being the best known. It is native to China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan. Females of this species produce large red berries with non-prickly entire margined leaves. I acquired this particular selection in Japan on one of my early travels there and noticed it because of its extremely large berries, thus it is probably a named cultivar considering where I bought it. This species has smooth entire leaf margins on leaves which are rather lax. The berries are larger than any Ilex opaca that I have observed. My original plant is growing in quite a bit of shade, yet it sets a heavy berry crop annually, with no male of the species nearby. So like many hollies, it is capable of being pollinated by many other species, even though the seed may not be viable. So it would do well in sun or shade, but in the Deep South it would be best to protect it from hot afternoon sun. It is a much heavier berry produce than the slide indicates.
Zones 6-9
