The small-leaved holly (ilex canariesins) is native to the Macaronesian islands and belongs to the family of the hollies (aquifoliales). It is a shrub or small tree that can grow up to 10 metres high, strongly branched with abundant, dark green foliage and a more or less pyramidal canopy.
Its bark is smooth and grey.
Its leaves are glossy, hard, alternate and ovate, about 6 – 8 centimetres long. The leaf edges
are generally entire, though sometimes, especially in new shoots, they have some small
spines (similar to Madeiran holly). Round or obtuse apex.
Flowers are dioecious (there are specimens with male flowers and others with female
flowers), white, small and grouped in small inflorescences on the tip of the plant’s branches. Ripe fruit are reddish in colour, globe shaped and approximately 1 centimetre in diameter.
