226 ILICINE^ 



until they pierce through the skin, and place themselves so as to receive sun 

 and air. The former are exclusively of the Fungus tribe, and are known by 

 the common names of mildew, rust, brand, etc. ; and among the latter are 

 such plants as the mistletoe and the tooth-wort. This kind of parasite is 

 again classed into such as have green leaves, like the mistletoe, performing 

 all the ordinary functions of leaves, and such as have scales of a brown or 

 some other colour, but not green, in place of true leaves, these not having 

 the ordinary function of leaves, or possessing the powers of respiration and 

 assimilation only in a very low degree. The largest leafy parasite of our 

 native flora is the mistletoe. The brown scaly parasites always attach 

 themselves to the roots of plants, like the various kinds of broom-rape and 

 the tooth-wort. One of the most remarkable characteristics of such plants 

 is the absence of all green colour, although exposed to the brightest light. 

 Thus, the broom-rapes grow on open heaths and sea-cliffs in the very broadest 

 sunshine of summer, yet they have no tints save those of dull brown, or 

 purple, and dingy yellow. 



Order LII. ILICINE^— HOLLY TRIBE. 



Sepals 3 — 6, imbricated when in bud ; corolla 4 — 5-lobed, imbricated 

 when in bud ; stamens inserted in the corolla, equalling its lobes in number, 

 and alternate with them ; filaments erect ; anthers 2-celled, opening length- 

 wise; ovary fleshy, abrupt, 2 — 6-celled; stigma lobed, nearly sessile; fruit 

 a berry, not bursting, inclosing 3 — 6 stony nuts, each containing a seed. 

 This order consists of trees or shrubs with thick leathery evergreen leaves, 

 and small axillary white or greenish flowers. The only European species is 

 the common Holly, the leaves of which, like those of most of the plants of 

 this order, possess astringent properties. 



Holly {Ilex). — Calyx 4 — 5-cleft; corolla wheel-shaped, 4 — 5-clef t ; 

 stamens 4 ; stigmas 4 — 5 ; berry round, containing 4 seeds, inclosed in a 

 nut-like covering. Name applied by the Latins to some tree, though not to 

 our Holly. 



Holly {Bex). 



Holly (/. aquifoUum). — Leaves leathery, egg-shaped, acute, shining, 

 waved, with spiny teeth; flower-stalks axillary, short, many-flowered; 

 flowers somewhat umbellate; fruit a globose drupe containing four bony, 

 seeded stones. The beautiful dark glossy Holly is a great ornament to those 

 of our woods in which it occurs in abundance, and attains a goodly size. It 

 is, however, more commonly a large shrub than a tree, yet in the woods of 

 Dumbartonshire there are Holly-trees more than thirty feet high ; and the 

 Holly-trees of Needwood Forest, in Staftbrdshire, have long been renowned 

 for size and beauty. In Bretagne, Holly-trees are often to be seen fifty feet 

 in height ; and Bradley records that some of those at the Holly- walk, near 

 Frensham, in Surrey, had attained the height of even sixty feet ; while old 

 Hollies, thirty or forty feet high, with very lai^ge trunks, are to be found in 

 various parts of this country. In woods where this plant is plentiful, as in 

 some of the southern counties of England, it gives a peculiar feature to the 



