HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



265 



NOTES ON THE HOLLY {.ilex a qui folium). 



I HE common Holly 

 has long been 

 esteemed for its 

 gre a t be auty, 

 glittering, as Eve- 

 lyn observes, with 

 its armed and var- 

 nished leaves, and 

 blushing with its 

 natural coral. 

 This tree is indi- 

 genous in most 

 parts of the middle 

 and south of 

 Europe ; it is also 

 considered a 

 native of Britain, 

 as the soil and cli- 

 mate of England 

 and Scotland ap- 

 pear particularly 

 favourable to its growth : standing detached and left 

 to nature in some of our woods and forests, it forms one 

 of the most beautiful evergreen trees that this or any 

 other country produces. The holly was known and 

 admired by the Greeks and Romans. Theophrastus 

 mentions it. Pliny tells us that Tiburtus built the 

 city of Tibur near three holly-trees, and that these 

 trees were standing in his own time, and must 

 therefore have been upwards of 1200 years old. 

 He also mentions one growing in Rome with an 

 inscription engraven in Tuscan letters, and that this 

 tree was older than Rome itself. This ancient author 

 notices the leaves of the holly, and says they are 

 provided with spines lest greedy quadrupeds shoidd 

 browse upon them, the hand wantonly seize or the 

 careless foot tread on them, or the perching birds 

 break them. It has been said by some old writers 

 that the lower leaves of the holly are sharply armed 

 with spurs for defence, while the upper leaves are 

 without them, and on this supposition our poet Southey 

 has introduced the following lines in his poem entitled 

 the Holly Tree, 



"Below a curling fence its leaves are seen 

 Wrinkled and keen ; 

 No grazing cattle through their prickly round 

 : Can reach to wound, 



No. 204.— December 1S81. 



But as they grow where nothing is to fear 

 Smoothe and unarmed the pointless leaves appear." 



This is a pretty poetical idea, but like many others 

 "ot exactly correct. On looking at a full grown 

 holly a considerable variety will be noticed in the 

 prickly character of its foliage. The spines arc 

 formed by the hardened extremities of the veins pro- 

 ceeding from the midrib to the margin, it is only the 

 old and mature leaves that have these spines. The 

 young and tender leaves which are more numerous on 

 the upper branches are destitute of them, or only 

 have them in a rudimentary character. Sometimes a 

 holly growing in a very luxuriant soil has all its leaves 

 in a manner metamorphosed so as entirely to lose the 

 peculiar aspect of the tree. There are also many 

 varieties of holly with more or less spiny leaves. The 

 timber of this tree is as white as ivory, and is readily 

 stained with black, green, blue, or red ; it is chiefly 

 used in inlaying and Tunbridge ware, also by 

 turners, and mathematical instrument makers. The 

 straight shoots, five or six feet in length, make 

 excellent coachman's whip handles. Bird lime is 

 made from its bark, by washing and separation of the 

 wood fibre. As an evergreen fence, it is superior to 

 every other plant. The extract and powdered leaves 

 and bark of the holly have been used medicinally as 

 a tonic and febrifuge, but it does not appear to be one 

 of the recognised remedies of the present pharmaco- 

 poeia. The name holly is probably a corruption of 

 the word Holy. Dr. Turner, our earliest writer on 

 plants, calls it the holy tree, most likely from its 

 being used in churches at Christmas. It was also 

 called Hulver, by which name it is still known in 

 Norfolk ; and Holme in the Southern counties, as 

 appears by the name it has given to many places 

 where it grows naturally, as Holmwood, between 

 Horsham and Dorking. Evelyn says that the vale 

 near his house in Surrey was anciently called Holmes- 

 dale, from the quantity of holly growing there. 



The time when the holly is brought more particu- 

 larly before our notice is at the approach of the 

 glorious festival of Christmas, when our churches, 

 houses, shops, and markets appear decked \\\\\i its 

 shiny leaves and vermilion berries. It is evident that 

 the use of flowers and green leaves as a means of 

 decoration is almost instinctive in the human breast, 



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