

DENDROLOGY. 



169 



ILEX. 



Tetvandria Tetragynia. Linn. Celastrinere. Juss. Cathartic, emetic. 





American Holly. Ilex opaca. 



The American Holly is 

 first met with in Connecticut 

 and is common m all the 

 more Southern States, in the 

 Floridas, in Lower Louisiana 

 and in West Tennessee, but 

 it is observed to become 

 mote rare in approaching 

 the mountains. On the 

 eastern shore of Maryland, 

 and in certain parts of Vir- 

 ginia it grows almost exclu- 

 sively on open grounds and 

 in dry gravelly soils ; while 

 in South Carolina, Georgia 

 and Lower Louisiana it is 

 seen only in shady places, 

 on the edges of swamps, where the soil is cool and fertile. 



In favorable situations this tree attains the height of 40 feet, 

 with a diameter of 12 or 15 inches. Its leaves are ovate, acute, 

 spinous, glabrous and fiat, and are of a light-green color. Its 

 flowers are whitish and not conspicuous, and put forth in the 

 month of May. They are succeeded by numerous red berries 

 which remain long attached to the branches. Upon the trunk 

 of old trees the bark is smooth and of a whitish-gray color ; on 

 the young branches it is green and shining. 



The wood of the American holly is heavy and compact, with 

 a white sap and brown heart. Its grain is fine and close ; hence 

 it is very brilliant when polished. Its principal use is for inlaying 

 mahogany furniture : the black lines with which cabinet makers 

 sometimes adorn their work are of holly dyed in the coppers of 



22 



PLATE XXXVII. 

 Fi''. 1. A leaf. Fig. 2. The fruit. 





