This Appalachian species has been combined with the more southern I. ambigua (Michx.) Torr. by some recent authors, as I. ambigua var. monticola (Gray) Wunderlin & Poppleton. But there is little overlap in range or morphology (W). Variation within this complex remains poorly understood; Ky. plants are shrubs generally up to 2-4 m tall, but further east montana often reaches 5-10 m (W; Agrawal & Stephenson 1995), with stems up to 10 cm dbh and 50 years old or more (Cavigelli et al. 1986). Reports of typical ambigua from the Cumberland Plateau of Ky. (M, J, CW) and Tenn. (Ch) may all be based on plants of montana with relatively small hairy leaves. These include some of the colls. from MCRE, POWE and WOLF (KY). Such plants have often been referred to I. montana var. mollis (Gray) Britt. or I. beadlei W.W. Ashe, but the latter may be a somewhat distinct segregate of the ambigua complex concentrated on the Piedmont (W). There are also old unverified disjunct reports of "Ilex mollis" from EDMO (Hussey 1876; Pr).