Azevinho (Ilex perado ssp. azorica)

Evergreen shrub or small tree. Leaves are shiny, dark green, oblong-elliptic or obovate, with entire or slightly spiny margins, up to 6 cm long. Flowers, axillary, small and white. Fruit is a drupe, red when ripe, up to 8 mm in diameter. Native to the Azores, this species appears between 250 and 800 m altitude, often associated with laurel and juniper forests, but also with woodland degraded by the spread of Pittosporum undulatum. Azevinho is distributed throughout the archipelago. The species Ilex perado is native to Macaronesia and includes subspecies in the Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands, the main differences being leaf morphology and the degree of spinescence.