9 8 



BRITISH FLOWERING PLANTS 



red at the tips. The style is straight, and the 

 stigma quinquepartite. The seeds resemble chaff, 

 and are pointed at both ends. 



Yellow Bird's Nest — Monotropa Hypopitys 



(Plate LVI) 



This curious plant grows in shady woods at the 

 roots of large trees, especially pine and fir trees. 

 It is not a truly parasitic plant, but its ramifying 

 roots absorb decaying vegetable matter. It flowers 

 in June and July. It has an erect stem clothed 

 with oval scales, but no proper leaves. The root 

 is perennial, and strikes deeply into the soil, where 

 it forms an onion-like tuber, and the filaments 

 attach themselves to the roots of trees. At the 

 end of the stalk is the flower-head. The upper- 

 most flower generally has 10 petals and stamens 

 and a 5-celled capsule, while the other lateral 

 flowers have only 8 petals and stamens and a 

 4-celled seed-capsule. The seeds are very small, 

 and are easily scattered by the wind. 



Order XLVIII. Aquifoliacece (1 genus) 



Holly — Ilex Aquifoliu-m 



(Plate LVI I) 



The only British plant of this Order is the Holly 

 {Ilex Aquifolium), a slow-growing shrub, which 

 frequently attains the size of a tree in the British 

 Islands, where it grows to most perfection. In 

 France it is common, in Italy local ; and though 

 widely distributed in north-western Germany, is 

 there often dwarfed to mere underwood. In 

 England it is universally employed (alone, or with 

 ivy, mistletoe, and other evergreens) to decorate 

 houses, churches, shops, etc., at Christmas. The 

 bark of the young tree is green, or ash-coloured, 

 and smooth, but in older trees becomes grey and 

 rough. The wood is very firm, hard, of fine 

 texture, and white or yellowish. The bark of 

 the young trees is used for making bird-lime. 

 The leaves grow alternately, on short stalks on 

 the young shoots, and are dark green, very thick, 

 smooth, glossy, and oval. Those growing near 



