Backyard and Beyond

These two tads, both at the base of the same massive beech, seem to have survived the demonic weed-whackers.
They are located about 200 feet in a straight line from this very spectacular American holly (Ilex opaca).
This damage may come from the larvae of a fly in the Phytomyza genus.
The big boy pictured above had no berries. Here’s another tree that was so loaded with them I thought it might be a European holly, but Green-Wood’s tree finder marks this one also as the native I. opaca. Which would make the leaf damage here the work of the Native Holly Leafminer P. illiciola?

All this month, the NYC EcoFlora project is documenting hollies in NYC. All the Ilex species are included. As always, they’d prefer wild or spontaneous grown specimens instead of cultivated ones, but you can add any that you see to iNaturalist. Here’s a guide to the species.