30 FLOWERS OF THE WOODS AND COPSES 
must be used with caution. Wood Sorrel was used as a salad. It has 
been endowed with cooling, antiscorbutic (remedy for skin diseases), 
and diuretic properties. An infusion was given in cases of fever. 
The leaves expand in wet weather and droop in dry weather, and 
are sensitive also to the touch. They change their position in relation 
to the light in four ways: the whole leaf may move, it may change its 
angle, the chlorophyll granules in the cells may rearrange themselves, 
as in Duckweed, or the grains may alter their form. The leaves close 
and droop in the sun and at night, The short stalks effect these 
two movements, absorption and transpiration enabling this sensitive- 
ness to show itself in action. 
EssENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS :— 
70. Oxalis AcetoseHla, L.—Stem a rhizome, rhizome toothed, leaves 
ternate, hairy, radical, leaflets obcordate, peduncles 1-flowered, flower 
white with purple veins, 2 bracts in middle of scape. 
Holly (Ilex Aquifolium, L.) 
Interglacial beds in Sussex, Neolithic beds in Essex have yielded 
evidence of the antiquity of the Holly. It is found in the Northern 
Temperate Zone in Europe from South Norway to Turkey and the 
Caucasus and Western Asia. It is found in 105 vice-counties of Great 
Britain, but in some districts is mainly planted, and ranges from 
Caithness southward, ascending to 1000 ft. in the Highlands. It is 
also common to Ireland and the Channel Islands. 
In some districts whole woods are filled with an undergrowth of 
Holly, while in other districts there is littke or none. In most hilly 
tracts it occurs sporadically lining the hedgerows. at intervals along the 
roadside, and in the fields, whilst in these last a few may form a small 
coppice by themselves, just as Hawthorns do when allowed to grow 
up from seed. 
Holly is a tall tree or shrub, 10-40 feet high, with a single, upright, 
main stem, branched above, or with several stems growing out together 
from a common base. The young shoots are downy. The bark is 
smooth, ashen-grey or black. The foliage is dense, dark, shiny, 
smooth. The leaves are egg-shaped, acute, wavy, with prickly points 
below, losing them higher up the tree. The borders are cartilaginous. 
These spines are usually held to be a protection against browsing 
cattle, but are probably adaptations (as in the Cactus) to dry-soil 
conditions. The cuticle is thick, which is another feature of dry-soil 
types, and a protection against cold. The smoothness of the leaf and 
