Fruits spherical, about 1 cm wide, fleshy, red and located on stems of 3–8 mm long.

Ilex canariensis is a plant in the family Aquifoliaceae related to European holly, endemic to Madeira and the Canary Islands.

The species is found mainly at lower altitudes in scrub and laurisilva where moisture in the air condenses or at the bottom of the ravines or near wet areas.

Laurisilva may be increasing in Madeira, but throughout much of the range there are pressures, particularly from sheep and goats grazing and fires.

This endemism has lost almost all the spines present on the edge of the leaves of the European holly, certainly due to the lack of pressure from herbivores that did not exist in these islands until the introduction of cattle by humans.