Holly wood is particularly well known and respected in the Harry Potter fandom because it is the wood that Harry Potter's wand is made out of. The wand Harry purchases from Ollivander's as an eleven year old is a holly wand of eleven inches with a core of phoenix tail feather.
That phoenix feather comes from a very special phoenix, namely Dumbledore's own phoenix, Fawkes. Harry's bond with his wand is so strong that, in the Harry Potter books, he uses the Elder Wand to fix his broken phoenix feather wand before giving up the Elder Wand itself.
10 Rare
Harry Potter is the only character in the entire Harry Potter series, on page or on screen, that is known as having a wand made of holly. This makes sense because, as mentioned on The Wizarding World online, holly is a particularly rare wood for a wand to be made out of.
There's are a number of reasons that it took Ollivander so long to consider the holly wand as a possible match for an eleven year old Harry when "The Boy Who Lived" walked into his store on Diagon Alley.
9 Protective
Traditionally, holly is known as a protective wood. It is both loyal to its owner and ready in that owner's defense. This is another reason the rare wood type is such a good match for Harry Potter.
As is seen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry's wand takes on a mind of its own and destroys the wand Voldemort is using against him while chasing Hagrid and Harry on the flying motorbike. Holly is certainly protecting its owner in that moment in a way never seen before.
8 Temper
Holly is known for choosing to work with wizards who sometimes have temper problems, or issues curbing their anger. While this could describe most teenagers at one point or another, Harry (particularly in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) struggles with his emotions.
The wand chooses the wizard and, it seems, the holly wand that chose Harry knew him better than he knew himself, and understood that Harry would not always feel like the lucky eleven year old whisked away from his aunt and uncles house.
7 Quests
As Ollivander tells Harry in Sorcerer's Stone, "The wand chooses the wizard, remember...I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter". Obviously Harry's holly wand thought so too. Holly wood is known for choosing owners who will face dangerous or spiritual quests.
It was obvious to Ollivander, and to many other members of the wizarding community, that the world was not quite out of danger with Voldemort's first fall, and Harry would have to play a part in the challenges to come.
6 Core Problems
Holly wood is known for performing very differently depending on what core type it is paired with. At Ollivander's, the cores he mostly works with are unicorn hair, dragon heartstring, and phoenix tail feather. Holly is usually supposed to be a problem when paired with phoenix tail feather.
Holly is volatile while phoenix tail feather cores are known for being more detached. Again, this explains why it took Ollivander so long to suggest that Harry try the holly and phoenix feather wand that eventually chooses him in Sorcerer's Stone.
5 Volatile
Phoenix tail feather cores are known for taking their time to learn who their witch or wizard is before beginning to perform at their best. Holly wood, on the other hand, isn't known for taking its time. Holly is known as a volatile wood, likely to be unpredictable and change very quickly.
Under normal circumstances that could be very problematic for a young wizard, but it seems to match Harry's life in a way any other wand wood would struggle to understand.
4 Superstition
A superstition exists in the wizarding world that says that anyone who has a wand made of holly will be romantically incompatible with anyone who has a wand made out of oak. This is mentioned in the notes in Tales of Beedle the Bard. Dumbledore mentions an old saying. "When his wand's oak and hers is holly, then to marry would be folly."
In good news, Harry's girlfriend and eventual wife, Ginny Weasley, has a wand made of yew, not of oak, so they should last as a couple.
3 Holy
In Europe there is a tradition that related holly trees to helping to repel evil. This, in part, developed from the fact that the name holly comes from the word "holy".
Holly certainly focuses on repelling evil in the Harry Potter series, as it's the material from which Harry's wand is made. Until the very last Battle of Hogwarts, it is Harry's holly wand that helps him fight and escape from Voldemort and other evil forces for six complete books (and seven movies).
2 Celtic Year
The Celtic tree calendar is based on theoretical interpretations of the Ogham alphabet, or what is called the Celtic Tree Alphabet. In this tradition, birthdays line up with corresponding trees.
Holly, on the Celtic tree calendar, happens to correspond to Harry Potter's birthday, July 31. Obviously it was no coincidence that Harry Potter ended up with a holly wand in the Harry Potter universe.
1 Symbolism
Aside from Harry Potter's wand, holly is mostly seen as a symbol around the Christmas holiday. In terms of Christian symbolism, the red berries and the green leaves are often seen as representing the blood of Jesus and his crown of thorns.
This interpretation of holly also relates symbolically to Harry. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry walks willingly to the Forbidden Forest to present himself to Voldemort and sacrifice himself to help save his friends, family, and the wizarding world as a whole. Self sacrifice surrounds holly in many stories and traditions.
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