NAT. ORDER. 



DumoscB 



ILEX VOMITORIA. SOUTH SEA TEA, OR HOLLY. 



Class IV. Tetrandria. Order HI. Tetragynia. .-^>«^ ^iJ^wWufe^; 



Gen. Char. Calyx, perianthium, four-toothed, very small, perma- 

 nent. Corolla, one-petalled, four-parted, wheel-shaped, divi- 

 sions roundish, spreading, rather large, with cohering claws. 

 Stamens: Filaments, {onr, awl-shaped, shorter than the co- 

 rolla, ^w^^e;-*, small. Pistils 3,nd. Germens, Youndiiah.. Style, 

 none. Stigmas, four, obtuse. Pericarp : Berry, roundish, 

 four-celled. Seed, solitary, bony, oblong, obtuse, gibbose and 

 cornered. 



6pe. Char. Calyx, four-toothed. Corolla, wheel-shaped. Style, 

 none. Berry, four-seeded. 



The leaves of the Ilex vomitoria are alternate, distant, oblong, 

 bluntish, crenate-ferrate, and about the size, shape, texture and 

 color of the small-leaved Alaternus, but somewhat shorter, and a 

 little broader at the base; the Jloicers dive produced in close whorls 

 at the joints of the branchesj- near the foot-stalks of the leaves ; 

 they are white, and are succeeded by red berries, which continue 

 upon the plants most part of the winter, and, being of a bright 

 red color, they make a very beautiful appearance, intermixed with 

 the green leaves. This tree usually rises from ten to fifteen feet 

 in height. It is a native of West Florida. 



It has been supposed by the inhabitants of the South, that 

 this shruh possesses poisonous properties ; and if we may judge 

 from their continuing so long untouched by birds, in a country 



Vol. ii.— 115. 



