Vermont Shrubs and Woody Vines 



131 



HOLLY FAMILY. ILICINAE 



Many persons who are familiar with the name and appear- 

 ance of the holly tree of Europe and the South do not know that 

 there are two shrubs of this family in Vermont, the winterberry 

 and the mountain holly. Although neither rivals the hollies just 

 referred to for Christmas decorations, each is an attractive plant 

 in its way and season. 



winterberry. Ilex verticillata (L.) Gray. 

 This is also called the black alder, but should not be con- 

 fused with the true alder (Alnus), or with the elder berries 

 (Sambucus) . It is a frequent shrub in moist thickets, of an up- 

 right habit, much branched, four to eight feet high, with grayish 



bark and dark green 

 leaves, conspicuously 

 veined and somewhat 

 leathery. The southern 

 holly is evergreen, but 

 the leaves fall from our 

 northern species in au- 

 tumn. The berries, 

 which ripen in Septem- 

 ber to a bright scarlet, 

 are about one- fourth 

 inch in diameter. They 

 may form singly or in 

 Fruiting branch, X %. close clusters of two or 

 three in the axils of the leaves, where they cling through the au- 

 tumn and even in the winter may render the shrubs conspicuous 

 and ,of ornamental value. Both the bark and berries have a de- 

 cidedly bitter taste and were formerly used in home medicines 

 for fevers. This spe.cies is somewhat variable, with one named 

 variety in Vermont (var. te\miifolia) . 



MOUNTAIN HOLLY. Nemopanthiis mncronata (L.) Trelease 

 {N. fascicularis Raf.) 



This is a frequent shrub in cool moist woods and swamps, 

 somewhat taller than the last. It bears abundant crops of ber- 



