Ilex opaca, 

 THE AMERICAN HOLLY. 



Synonymes. 



Eex opaca, 



Houx de I'Amerique, 

 Amerikanischer Stechpalmenbaum, 

 Agrifoglio a foglio di quercia, 

 Agrifolio americano, 

 American Holly, 



( AiTON, Horlus Kewensis. 



De Candoi.le, Prodromus. 

 J MicHAUX, North American Sylva. 

 1 LouDOM, Arboretum Britannicum. 

 y ToRREY AND Gray, Flora of North Amenca 



France. 



Germany. 



Italy. 



Spain and Portugal. 



Britain and Anglo-America. 



Derivation. The specific name, opaca, is derived from the Latin opacus, thick, bushy, as if giving shade. 



Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pi. 84; Loudon, Arboretum Britannicum, v., pi. 66; and the figures beiow. 



Spedjic Characters. Leaves ovate, flat, coriaceous, acute, toothed in a scolloped manner, spiny, and gla 

 brous, but not glossy. Flowers scattered at the base of only those branches that are a year old. Teeth 

 of the calyx acute. Sexes dioecious. De Candolle, Frodromus. 



Description. 



IHE Ilex opaca is a beau- 

 ^ ^T~p 1^ tiful evergreen tree, some- 

 ^ LI ?^ times growing to the 

 W^M^sk height of eighty feet, with 

 a trunk four feet in diameter; but its ordinary- 

 height, in favourable situations, is not more than 

 thirty or forty feet, with a diameter of twelve or 

 fifteen inches; and near its northernmost limits 

 it is seldom found to exceed ten feet in height. 

 The bark of the trunks of old trees is smooth, and 

 of a whitish-gray ; but on the young shoots and 

 branches it is green and shining. The leaves are 

 ovate, acute, spinous, glabrous, and flat ; and are 

 of a light-green colour. The flowers, which ap- 

 pear in the months of May and June, are whitish, 

 but not conspicuous, and are succeeded by hand- 

 some, round, scarlet berries, that remain long 

 attached to the branches, often during the winter. 



Varieties. Th-e only distinct variety of this species is the Ilex opaca laxi- 

 folia, which is found in Carolina, with loose, whitish flowers, and yellowish-red 

 berries. The following variations, however, are mentioned by liOudon, on the 

 authority of Ratinesque, but it may be questioned whether they were not mostly 

 deduced from leaves of trees of different ages, or in the early period of their 

 ^owth : 



Lonf]^-toothe<l-leaved variety. 

 Broad-lcavcd variety. 

 Sharp-poijited-lcaved variety. 

 Roiind-k'dvcd variety. 



1. I, O. MACRODON. 



2. I. O. LATIFOLIA. 



3. I. O. ACUMINATA. 



4. I. O. GLOBOSA. 



Geography and History. The northernmost limits of this species may be con- 

 sidered as Ciuincy and (Johasset, in Massachusetts; and it is found more or less 



