Definition of "ilex" [‖I•lex]

• Any of various trees or shrubs of the genus Ilex; holly. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "These include species of Fagaceae, in particular Quercus ilex, which is found only in the Northern Waziristan, Koh-i-Safed, and Chitral foothills, as well as east oleander (Nerium), tropical adhatoda, and Fraxinus xanthoxyloides."
• "It is the only tree that the ancient world could have cared to notice; and if it were possible to carve statues of trees, I am sure that the ilex is the tree sculptors would choose."
• "The crying need of all nature was for shade; for the ilex is a small-leaved tree giving a thin shadow with no cool depths amid the branches."