162 " AQUIFOLIACEAE 



feet, dioecious or polygamous, and usually are produced in 

 cymes. They are made up of 4 to 6 sepals, which are persistent, 

 the same number of deciduous petals, and stamens alternate 

 with the petals. The ovary is compound, consisting of 2 to 6 

 carpels, and the stigma is usually sessile on the ovary. The 

 fruit is a drupe with horny or crusty nutlets. 



There are only 3 genera but some 300 species in this family, 

 all native in temperate and tropical regions. Two of the genera 

 occur in North America and both are represented by native 

 shrubs in Illinois. 



Key to the Shrubby Genera 



Leaves serrate; petals united at the base; fruit pedicels usually 



about 14 inch long - Ilex, p. 162 



Leaf margins entire or, rarely, with a few teeth ; petals not at 



all united; fruit pedicels more than 14 inch long 



Nemopanthus, p. 165 



ILEX Linnaeus 

 Holly Winterberry 



The hollies are usually glabrous shrubs or small trees with 

 dioecious flow^ers. Staminate flowers occur in axillary clusters, 

 and pistillate flowers are solitary. The sepals, petals and sta- 

 mens number 4 to 6, and the petals are united at the base. 

 The fruit is a nearly globose drupe with 4 to 6 or, rarely, 

 7 or 8 nutlets. 



There are about 200 species of holly, most of them American 

 but some Asian and Australian. About 15 occur in the United 

 States, and the 2 following are native in Illinois. 



Key to the Holly Species 



Lobes of the calyx not ciliate, the nutlets ribbed I. decidua 



Lobes of the calyx ciliate, nutlets not ribbed I. verticillata 



ILEX DECIDUA Walter 



Possumhaw Swamp Holly 



The Possumhaw, fig. 39, is an upright shrub, or less often 

 a small tree, with gray bark made warty by corky lenticels. 

 The branches are light gray and the smooth branchlets soon 

 become light gray. The leaves, which are borne in crowded 

 groups on the ends of short branchlets, or may be separated 



