AQUIFOLIACEAE 165 



or firm and often very veiny beneath. The petioles are chan- 

 neled above and thinly pubescent. 



The greenish or yellowish-white flowers appear in June and 

 early July and are of two kinds. Those with stamens are clus- 

 tered in short-peduncled cymes of as many as a dozen flowers. 

 Those having pistils occur 1 to 3 in a place. The calyx lobes 

 are obtuse and definitely ciliate. The fruit, which appears in 

 the autumn, is bright red or orange, globose, about one-third 

 inch in diameter, and contains 3 to 5 nutlets, which are lunate, 

 bone colored, and smooth. 



Distribution. — The Common Winterberry is a shrub which 

 prefers low land bordering lakes, marshes and swamps, and 

 in such situations ranges from Nova Scotia west to Minnesota 

 and south to Florida and Mississippi. In Illinois, it divides the 

 state with the Possumhaw, occurring in the northeastern quar- 

 ter. It has been especially abundant in Cook and Lake counties 

 and ranges southwestward to Oregon and southward into Kan- 

 kakee County. There is a single report from as far south as 

 Hardin County. 



NEMOPANTHUS Rafinesque 

 Mountain-Holly Catberry 



The mountain-hollies are shrubs with ashy gray bark and 

 alternate, deciduous leaves which are glabrous and slender 

 petioled. The axillary flowers appear singly or a few together 

 and are long pediceled and dioecious. Staminate flowers have 

 minute, 4- or 5-toothed calyces, and fertile flowers have none. 

 There are 4 or 5 long, narrow, spreading petals and 4 or 5 

 stamens per flower. The fruit is a drupe which contains 4 or 

 5 bony nutlets. 



This genus contains but a single species. 



NEMOPANTHUS MUCRONATA (Linnaeus) 



Trelease 



Mountain-Holly 



The Mountain-Holly, fig. 39, is an erect, branching shrub 

 4 to 12 feet high, with gray stems and gray branches, which 

 may turn reddish brown, and smooth branchlets. The leaves 

 are oval to oblong-oval and occur in crowded groups on the 



