EBONY FAMILY. 219 



1. ILEX, HOLLY. (Ancient Latin name, which however belonged rather 

 to an Oak than to Holly.) Fl. early summer : fruit autumn. 



§ 1. True Holly, with thick and rigid evergreen leaves, red berries, and parts 

 of the flowers in fours, rarely some in fives or sixes. 



I. Aquifdlium, European Holly, is occasionally planted, not quite 

 hardy N. ; tree with more glossy and spiny leaves, and brighter red berries than 



I. opaca, American H. Low grounds from E. New England S. ; tree 

 20° - 40° high, smooth, with gray bark, oval leaves wavy-margined and spiny- 

 toothed. 



I. Dahbon, Dahoon H. Shrub or small tree, of low pine-barrens from 

 Eastern Virginia S., a little downy, with obovate or oblong-linear short-petioled 

 leaves sparingly toothed above the middle ; or, var. myrtif6lia, with narrower 

 leaves barely 1' long and mostly entire. 



I. Cassine, Yaupon H. Shrub on the sandy coast S., with oblong or 

 lance-ovate crenate leaves only 1 ' long, and flowers in sessile clusters. Leaves 

 used for Yaupon tea. 



§ 2. Prinos, &c., shrubs with deciduous mostly thin leaves, and red berries. 

 * Parts of the flower 4, 5, rarely 6 : nutlets striate on the back. 

 I. decidua. Wet grounds S. & W. ; with wedge-oblong or lance-obovate 

 obtusely serrate leaves downy on the midrib beneath, when old glossy above, 

 and with acute calyx-lobes. 



I. ambigua. Wet grounds S. ; with the thin oval or oblong pointed 

 leaves smooth or smoothish and sharply serrate, and obtuse ciliate calyx-lobes. 



I. mollis. Shady grounds along the Alleghanies from Penn. S. ; like the 

 last, but soft-downy, and fertile peduncles very short. 



* * Parts of the blossom 6 (or sometimes 5-9) in the fertile, 4-6 in the sterile 

 flowers : nutlets of the berry smooth and even. 



I. verticillata, Common Winterrerry or Black Alder. Common 

 in low grounds ; with obovate or wedge-lanceolate serrate leaves (1^'- 2' long) 

 acute or pointed at both ends, the lower surface Often downy, very short-pedun- 

 cled flowers mostly clustered, and very bright scarlet-red berries ripening late in 

 autumn. There is nothing whorled in the leaves or flowers, so that the name 

 is rather misleading. 



I. laevigata, Smooth W. Wet grounds along the coast of New England 

 to Virginia ; has smoother and narrower minutely serrate leaves glossy above, 

 long-peduncled sterile flowers, and larger less bright berries ripening earlier. 



§ 3. Inkberry ; shrubs with thickish evergreen leaves glossy above, often blackish- 

 dotted beneath, parts of the flower 6, or rarely 7-9, and with black 

 astringent berries, their nutlets smooth and even. 

 I. glabra. Common Inkberry. Along sandy coast from Mass. S., 2° - 4° 

 high ; with wedge-olilong few-toothed near the apex, flowers several on the 

 sterile, solitary on the fertile peduncles. 



I. COriicea. Wet soil from Carolina S. ; 4° -8° high, with larger obovate- 

 oblong or oval leaves entire or with scattered sharp teeth. 



66. EBENACEJE, EBONY FAMILY. 



Tree.?, with hard wood, no milky juice, alternate entire leaves, 

 from 2 to 4 times as many stamens as there are lobes to the corolla, 

 eeveral-ceUed ovary, with a single ovule hanging in each cell, and 

 berry with large hard-coated seeds. Represented only by 



1. DIOSPYROS, PERSIMMON, DATE -PLUM. (Ancient Greek 

 name.) Flowers polygamous or direcious, the fertile ones single in axils of 

 leaves, the sterile smaller and often clustered. Calyx and corolla each 4-6- 

 lobed. Stamens about 16 in the sterile, 8 imperfect ones in the fertile flowers. 



