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Aquifoliaceae family

Topal Holly Ilex ×attenuata hybrid

Native Specialist-bee host

Topal Holly is a perennial tree native to the lower 48 states. A host for pollen-specialist native bees.

More about this plant

Ilex × attenuata, the topal holly, is the result of a cross between Ilex cassine (dahoon) and Ilex opaca. It is a naturally occurring hybrid found in the southeastern United States where the ranges of the parents overlap, but hybrid cultivars have also been created. The best known cultivars are 'Fosteri', Foster holly, which does not require males to set fruit, and 'Savannah', with very showy red fruit. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 9 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Perennial
In the garden
Tree layer (canopy / understory) — Sits in the tree of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~39 caterpillar species

Ilex supports ~39 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a strong genus.

Recorded feeding on Ilex in North America, including:

Acharia stimulea · Saddleback Caterpillar Moth Apatelodes torrefacta · Spotted Apatelodes Argyrotaenia citrana · leafroller moth Argyrotaenia velutinana · Red-Banded Leafroller Autographa californica · Alfalfa Looper Moth Automeris io · giant silk moth
+ 8 more species →
Bucculatrix ilecella · ribbed cocoon-maker moth Celastrina argiolus · Holly Blue Cepphis armataria · Scallop Moth Choristoneura rosaceana · Oblique-Banded Leafroller Cicinnus melsheimeri · Melsheimer's Sack-Bearer Moth Ditula angustiorana · Red-Barred Tortrix Dolba hyloeus · Pawpaw Sphinx Harrisimemna trisignata · Harris's Three Spot
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
✦ Bees specialist-bee host

Specialist native bees depend on it.

Some native bees are pollen specialists (oligolectic) — they raise young only on pollen from particular plant genera. Ilex is a recorded specialist-bee host, so losing it can mean losing the bee that relies on it.

Xerces pollinator conservation →
Specialist hosts from Smith et al. 2024.
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (10) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[07] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts · Smith et al. 2024 (CC BY)
[08] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[09] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[10] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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