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Vegetation
Small-leaved Holly Tree (Ilex_canariensis)
The small-leaved holly tree is a tree endemic to Madeira and the Canary Islands, present on all the islands except Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, and can reach up to 10 metres in height. With greyish-brown bark, its top has many branches and is very dark, with flexible, strong, oval, shiny deep green leaves, which may have thorns, although they are almost always whole and rounded at the end. Its white flowers give rise to striking, fleshy deep red fruits.
The small-leaved holly tree is typical in laurisilva forests and frequent in heath forests, heath-firetree forests and mixed pine forests, growing preferably between 500 and 1500 metres above sea level.
Its bark has healing properties and was once also used as a yellow dye. Its wood has been used as firewood, for the manufacture of utensils and building materials such as fences and troughs, as well as for industry. Its young branches and trunks are often used as stakes and forks for agriculture.
Its name comes from the resemblance of its leaves to those of the holm oak (Quercus ilex) and the Kermes oak (Quercus coccifera), hence its name Ilex canariensis, the epithet that accompanies it being a reference to its place of origin.
It is a relative of the famous European holly (Ilex aquifolium), a tree whose leaves and fruit are used as Christmas decorations. Unlike the latter, the small-leaved holly tree is characterised by the fact that it has no thorns on its leaves, probably due to the absence of herbivores.