WOODS AND THICKETS IN SUMMER 



145 



threadlike peduncles ; and the capsule is globular, opening by three 

 valves at the top. 



From May to August is the best season to study the Holly 

 [Ilex aquifolium — order AquifoUacece). We are all acquainted with 

 this tree in its winter condition, with its bright red or yellow 

 ' berries,' but during the months above named the less familiar 

 flowers are in bloom. The tree is common in the woods of all parts 

 of Britain, and is easily dis- 

 tinguished at all times by its 

 smooth, grey bark, as well 

 as by its thick, glossy, spiny, 

 evergreen leaves, which are 

 placed alternately on the 

 branches, attached by very 

 short stalks. As a rule the 

 leaves have waved margins, 

 and are armed with several 

 very strong spines ; but com- 

 monly the spines of the upper 

 leaves are much fewer, and 

 are sometimes reduced to a 

 single one at the apex. The 

 little white flowers form 

 dense clusters in the axils of 

 the leaves. Generally they 

 contain both stamens and 

 pistil, but often they are 

 imperfect, the pistillate 

 flowers predominating on 

 some trees and the stamin- 

 ate ones on others. Their parts are arranged in fours, the calyx 

 having four small teeth, and the corolla fom- spreading lobes, while 

 four stamens are attached to the latter, and the ovary has the 

 same number of cells, and the style terminates in an equal number 

 of small stigmas. The fruits are not really berries, but little, 

 poisonous drupes containing four one-seeded stones. 



The Privet [Ligustrum vulgar e), which forms, together with the 

 Ash, the whole of the order Oleacece, as far as British species are 

 concerned, is ver}?- common in the southern counties, where it is 

 often an escape from gardens, the bush being so largely employed 

 in the formation of hedges ; but it is truly wild, and very plentiful 



The Ivy-leaved Bell flower. 



