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Ilex cassine L. var. cassine
Dahoon
Dahoon Holly
Florida native
A common evergreen tree found in flatwoods, wet hammocks, swamps and pond margins throughout most of Florida. The range includes the southeastern coastal states from Louisiana into North Carolina.
Growing up to 12m (~40 ft.) in height with alternate simple leaves. Leaves may be entire, or toothed mostly on the outer half with bristles, if any, less than 1mm long. Dahoon, like other hollies, is dioescious, meaning that there are male and female plants. Flowers are small with four white petals. Fruit is a berry 6-9mm (~ 1/4 to 1/3 in.) in diameter and may be red, orange or yellow.
The variety cassine has leaves that are more than 1cm (~3/8 in.) wide. Ilex cassine with leaves les than 1cm wide are variety myrtifolia.
Ilex cassine is a member of the Aquifoliaceae - Holly family.
Other species of the Ilex genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Ilex ambigua - CAROLINA HOLLY
Ilex decidua - POSSUMHAW
Ilex glabra - INKBERRY
Ilex opaca var. arenicola - SCRUB HOLLY
Ilex opaca var. opaca - AMERICAN HOLLY
Ilex vomitoria - YAUPON
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
iNaturalist profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Mar 11, 2026
