Ilex x meserveae Little Rascal

[brianw]

I bought this recently. A delightful small glossy leaved holly. There seems to be confusion online, and on the multi language label as to whether it will berry, or what sex it is. Even if it does not berry it is delightful. It was not cheap at £13 for a 6" pot and not much taller, but I noticed that one pot was a strange oval shape and when I got home confirmed it was 2 plants. Now separated and growing individually.
Looks like it grows slowly. Anyone with experience of it?

[Alan_b]

There is quite a lot online about 'Little Rascal', even some YouTube videos!  The balance of opinion would seem to be that it is male and I did not find a picture showing berries that would contradict this.  This web site has more details than most: http://www.havlis.cz/karta_en.php?kytkaid=1556 .

Little Rascal® is a beautiful new variety of blue holly, found in US nursery Monrovia in 1996 as a natural mutation of another blue holly called Blue Boy. The plant exhibits unique features, distinctly different from its parent for which it was patented under PP9,999 as ilex x “Mondo”.

Little Rascal® is a compact and slow growing variety of blue holly. It bears plentiful of approx. 3 cm long leaves that are evergreen, undulated, richly serrated at margins but not thorny, mid green with coppery red hues. Plant with freshly emerged or just about maturing leaves looks like artificial thanks to its super-glossy foliage. Twigs are burgundy red or reddish-brown. It is a male variety that serves all blue hollies and most of other female hollies as a good pollinator.

[Stan da Prato]

Mine has never berried unlike another, larger meserveae   cv Blue Angel.