230 ILICINE^— HOLLY TRIBE 



Ilex yield, in other countries, important medicines ; the Ilex vomituria affords 

 the celebrated Apalaehian Tea of North America, which the Indians assemble 

 to drink in large draughts medicinally. No less renowned is the /. ^jaro- 

 gudnsis, the Verb mate, or Jesuit's Tea, of Paraguay, which forms a favourite 

 infusion, drunk at all times of the day by natives of Paraguay, La Plata, Peru, 

 and Quito, and which is made, like our tea, by putting a handful of leaves into a 

 teapot, and pouring boiling water upon them. The Creoles are so fond of 

 this beverage that they never travel without some of the mate leaves. More 

 than five millions of pounds of this tea are annually exported from Paraguay. 

 The natives boast of the innumerable excellences which the tea possesses ; 

 and it is certainly very remarkable that recent researches have proved the 

 existence in this infusion of the Holly of the bitter tonic substance called by 

 chemists iheine, Avhich renders the Chinese tea so refreshing, and which is 

 identical with the caffeine of the coffee-berry. Liebig, referring to tea and 

 coffee, says : " We shall certainly never be able to discover how men were 

 led to the use of the hot infusion of the leaves of a certain shrub, or a 

 decoction of certain roasted seeds. Some cause there must be to explain how 

 the practice has become a necessary of life to whole nations. But it is surely 

 still more remarkable that the beneficial effects of both plants on the health 

 must be ascribed to one and the same substance, the presence of which in 

 two vegetables belonging to different natural families, the produce of different 

 quarters of the globe, could hardly have presented itself to the boldest 

 imagination." 



The flowers of the Holly are small, white, and thick like wax, growing 

 in tufts in the axils of the leaves in May and June. The leaves are alternate, 

 deep green, shining, very rigid, the upper ones often without spines, the 

 lower usually very spinous. The bark on the young branches is green, and 

 on the older ones ash-coloured ; the berries are ripe in September, and hang 

 on the bough nearly through the winter. The smooth gray bark of the 

 Holly will often be found to be covered in places with raised black marks 

 which very closely resemble Chinese Avi-iting. They are really the fruits of 

 a species of lichen called Graphis elegans. 



Order LIU. OLEACE^.— OLIVE TRIBE. 



Calyx 4-lobed, not falling off, sometimes wanting ; corolla 4-cIeft, or of 

 4 free petals, sometimes wanting ; stamens 2, alternate with the lobes of the 

 corolla ; ovary 2-celled ; cells 2-seeded ; style 1 ; fruit a berry, drupe or 

 capsule of 2 cells, each cell often perfecting but a single seed. The order 

 consists of trees or shrubs with opposite leaves, either simple or compound, 

 and the flowers grow in clusters. They inhabit the temperate regions of 

 most parts of the world. The most important plant is the Olive, so familiar 

 to our minds as connected with some of the most interesting events of sacred 

 history, and which was among the earliest plants to be cultivated. This tree 

 grows freely in the south of Europe, and occasionally bears fruit in this 

 country, but the produce is scanty and uncertain. Britain produces but two 

 members of the tribe, each representing a separate genus. 



L Privet {Ligilstrum). — Calyx with 4 small teeth; corolla, funnel-shaped, 



