TREI.EASE ILICINE^ AND CELASTRACEyE. 345 



whence they were driven by the subsequent cold of the Glacial 

 period, which ushered in the Qiiatenary. It is interesting to 

 observe the distribution of this genus over our western country, 

 Europe, &c., in Tertiary times, in contrast with its present 

 limitation. 



SYNOPSIS. 



ILEX, L. — Shrubs or small trees with short-petioled leaves and minute 

 pointed stipules ; flowers 4- to 9-merous ; calyx present and persistent in 

 both fertile and sterile flowers; corolla somewhat gamopetalous at base, 

 its lobes oblong and very obtuse; stamens adnate to the base of the short 

 tube. — Gen. No. 172 ; Benth. & Hook, /. c. 356 ; Maximowicz, /. c. — Includ- 

 ing Prinoss L. and AquifoUum^ Tourn., as well as several genera of Rafi- 

 nesque. The leader should consult Watson's Bibliographical Index for 

 synonymy. 



* Flowers 4-merous ; drupe red or occasionally yellow ; nutlets prominently few-ribbed 

 on the sides and back; leaves coriaceous, evergreen. — § .^(7?<//b/;«;«, Gray, Man- 

 ual, I ed. 276. — Aquifolium, Tourn. 



1. OPACA, AiT. — Tail shrub, or in the south a tree as much as 45 ft. 

 high; young twigs sparingly velvety-pubescent; leaves broad, 2 to 4 in. 

 long, elliptical to obovate-oblong, pungentlj* acuminate, mosth- spi- 

 nosely dentate, at least above; petiole and upper surface of midrib some- 

 what puberulent; sterile cymes 3- tog-flowered, mostly 12 to 24 mm. long; 

 fertile, i- (rarely 3-) flowered, 6 to 12 mm. long, the puberulent peduncle 

 bibracteate at or below the middle; caljx segments acute, ciliate, espe- 

 cially in the fertile flowers; stigma verj' broad, sessile; drupe spheroidal 

 or ovoid, S to 10 mm. long. — Hort. Kew (1789) i. 169; Watson, Index, 160; 

 Maximowicz, I.e. 29; Sargent, Forest Trees of N. A. 34: Meliichamp, 

 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, viii. 112. — Massachust tts to Florida, west to s.e. 

 Missouri and Texas. I have seen no specimens collected north or east of 

 New York. 



2. I. Dahoon, Walt. — Shrub or small tree not over 25 ft. high; young 

 growth and lower surface of le aves, at least the midrib, usually pubescent ; 

 leaves rather narrow as contrasted with the last, 2 or 3 in. long, elliptical 

 or mostly oblanceolate to obovate-oblong, usually cuneate, obtuse, acute, 

 or somewhat mucronate but not pungent, entire or with a few remote firm 

 serratures above ; inflorescence nearly as in the last, but the fertile cjmes 

 commonly 3-flowered ; calyx segments acute, more or less ciliate; drupes 

 subglobose, 4 to 6 mm. in diameter, on pedicels of equal length, mostly 3 

 from a common peduncle of the s-ame length. — Fl. Carol. (17S8J, 241;. 

 Watson, Index, 158; Maximowicz, I.e. 26; .Sargent. I.e. '}^^. — \'irg'nia to 

 Florida Passes through a form with elongated narrow leaves (/. angus- 

 tijolia, Willd. Enum. 172) into the variety. 



