Ilex cassine is a holly native to the southeastern coast of North America that grows from Virginia south down the East Coast to Florida, then west along the Gulf Coast to the Colorado River in Texas, with subspecies growing southward on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico as far as Veracruz, Mexico, and in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas. It is commonly known as dahoon holly or cassena, the latter derived from the Timucua name for I. vomitoria.

It is a large shrub or small tree growing to 12 meters (39 ft). The leaves are evergreen, 6–15 cm long and 2–4 cm broad, glossy dark green, entire or with a few small spines near the apex of the leaf. The flowers are white, with a four-lobed corolla. The fruit is a red drupe, 5–6 mm in diameter, containing four seeds.

As with other hollies, it is dioecious with separate male and female plants. Only the females have berries, and a male pollenizer must be within range for bees to pollinate them.

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