614 TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



1. ILEX, L. 



Characters of the family. 



Ilex with about one hundred and seventy-five species is found in all tropical and 

 temperate regions of the world with the exception of western North America, Aus- 

 tralia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and New Guinea, the largest number of species 

 occurring in Brazil and Guiana. Of the thirteen species which inhabit eastern North 

 America, five are small trees. Ilex contains a bitter principle, ilicin, and possesses 

 tonic properties. Ilex Paraguariensis, St. Hilaire, of South America, furnishes the 

 matd or Paraguay tea, and is the most useful of the species. The European Ilex 

 Aquifolium, L., is a favorite garden plant, and is sometimes planted in the middle and 

 southern United States. 



Ilex is the classical name of the Evergreen Oak of southern Europe. 



CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES. 



Parts of the flower in 4's ; pedicels with bractlets at the base ; nutlets prominently ribbed 

 on the back and sides ; leaves persistent. 



Leaves armed with spiny teeth ; young branchlets glabrous or sparingly pubescent. 



1. I. opaca (A, C). 

 Leaves serrate or entire. 



Leaves oblanceolate or obovate-oblong, mostly entire ; young branchlets pubescent ; 



calyx-lobes acuminate. 2. I. Cassine (C). 



Leaves elliptical or elliptical-oblong, coarsely crenulate-serrate ; young branchlets 



puberulous ; calyx-lobes obtuse. 3. I. vomitoria (C). 



Parts of the flower in 4's or 5's, rarely in 6's; pedicels without bractlets ; nutlets striate, 



many-ribbed on the back ; leaves deciduous. 



Leaves oblong-spatulate or lanceolate-obovate, remotely crenulate-serrate ; calyx-lobes 

 broadly triangular. 4. I. decidua (A, C). 



Leaves ovate or lanceolate-oblong, sharply serrate ; calyx-lobes acute. 



5. I. monticola (A). 

 1. Ilex opaca, Ait. Holly. 



Leaves elliptical to obovate-oblong, pungently acute, with thickened undulate 

 margins and few stout spinose teeth, or occasionally quite entire, especially on the 

 upper branches, thick, coriaceous, dull yellow-green, paler and often yellow on the 

 lower surface, 2'-4' long, with prominent midribs and conspicuous veins, persistent 

 on the branches for three years, finally deciduous in the spring; their petioles short, 

 stout, thickened at the base, grooved above, slightly puberulent; stipules minute, 

 broadly acute or nearly deltoid, persistent. Flowers appearing in spring on slender 

 puberulous pedicels, with minute acute bractlets, in short pedunculate cymes from 

 the axils of young leaves or scattered along the base of the young shoots, 3-9-flowered 

 on the staminate and 1 or rarely 2 or 3-flowered on the pistillate plant; calyx-lobes 

 acute, ciliate on the margins; stigmas broad and sessile. Fruit ripening late in the 

 autumn, persistent on the branches during the winter, spherical or ovoid, dull red or 

 rarely yellow, \' in diameter; nutlets prominently few-ribbed on the back and sides, 

 rather narrower at the apex than at the base. 



A tree, sometimes 40-50 high, with a trunk 2, 3, or exceptionally 4 in diame- 

 ter, short slender branches forming a narrow pyramidal head, and stout branchlets 

 covered at first with fine rufous pubescence disappearing during their first season, 

 and becoming glabrous and pale brown. "Winter-buds short, obtuse or acuminate, 

 \'-^ long, with narrow acuminate ciliate scales. Bark about \' thick, light gray and 



