55-1 AQUIFOLIACEAE (HOLLY FAMILY^ 



AQUIFOLlACEAE (HOLLY FAMILY) 



Trees or shrubs, with small axillary 4-8-merows flowers, a minute calyx free 

 from the 4-8-celled ovary and the 4:-8-seeded berry-like drupe; the stamens a 

 many as the divisions of the almost or quite ^-S-petaled corolla and alternate 

 with them, attached to their very base. Corolla imbricated in the bud. Anthers 

 opening lengthwise. Stigmas 4-8, or united into one, nearly sessile. Seeds 

 suspended and solitary in each cell, anatropous, with a minute embryo in fleshy 

 albumen. Leaves simple, mostly alternate. Flowers white or greenish, mostly 

 poly gamo -dioecious. Small family, related to the Ebenaceae. 



1. Ilex. Pet-Ms or corolla-lobes oval or obovate. Stamens adnate to the base of the corolla. 



2. Nemopanthus. Petals linear, free from each other and from the stamens. 



1. iLEX L. HOLLY 



Calyx 4-6-toothed. Petals 4-6, separate or united only at the base, oval or 

 obovate, obtuse, spreading. Stamens 4-6. The berry-like drupe containing 

 4-6 little nutlets. Leaves alternate. Fertile flowers inclined to be solitary, 

 and the sterile or partly sterile flowers to be clustered in the axils. (The ancient 

 Latin name of the Holly Oak, rather than of the Holly.) 



1. AQUIF6LIUM [Tourn.] Gray. Parts of the flower commonly in 4's, 

 sometimes in 5's or 6's ; drupe red or yellow, its nutlets ribbed, veiny, or 

 1-grooved on the back; leaves mostly smooth, coriaceous and evergreen. 



* Leaves armed with spiny teeth ; trees. 



1. I. opaca Ait. (AMERICAN H.) Leaves oval, flat, the wavy margins with 

 scattered spiny teeth ; flowers in loose clusters along the base of the young 

 branches and in the axils ; calyx-teeth acute ; fruit red. Moist woodlands. 

 Mass, to N. J., near the coast, w. to s. Mo., and southw. June. Tree, 6-12 

 m. high ; the deep green foliage less glossy than in the European Holly. Forma 

 XANTHOCARPA Rehder. Fruit bright yellow. New Bedford, Mass, (flerrey). 



* * Leaves serrate or entire, not spiny ; shrubs. 



2. I. vomitbria Ait. (CASSENA, YADPON.) Leaves lance-ovate or elliptical, 

 crenate, 2.5-3.8 cm. long; flower-clusters nearly sessile, smooth; calyx-teeth 

 obtuse. (/. Cassine Man. ed. 6, not L.) Va. to Fla., Ark., and Tex. May. 

 Leaves used for tea by the people along the coast, as they were also to make 

 the celebrated black drink of the North Carolina Indians. (W. I.) 



'3. I. Cassine L. (DAHOON H.) Leaves oblanceolate or oblong, entire, or 

 sharply serrate toward the apex, with revolute margins, 5-7.5 cm. long, the 

 midrib and peduncles pubescent; calyx-teeth acute. (I. Dahoon Walt.) 

 Swamps, s. Va., and southw. May, June. 



Var. myrtifblia (Walt.) Sarg. Leaves smaller (2.5 cm. long or less) and 

 narrower. (/. myrtifolia Walt.) Same range. May. 



2. PRINOlDES Gray. Parts of the polygamous or dioecious flowers in 4's 

 or 5's {rarely 6's) ; drupe red or purple ; nutlets striate-many-ribbed on the 

 back ; leaves deciduous ; shrubs. . 



4. I. decfdua Walt. Leaves wedge-oblong or lance-obovate, obtusely serrate, 

 downy on the midrib beneath, shining above, becoming thickish ; peduncles of 

 the sterile flowers longer than the petioles, of the fertile short ; calyx-teeth 

 smooth, acute. Wet grounds, Va. to Mo., Kan., and southw. May. 



6. I. monticola Gray. Leaves ovate or lance-oblong, ample (6-12 cm. long), 

 taper-pointed, thin-membranaceous, smooth, sharply srrrate ; fertile flowers 

 very short-peduncled ; calyx ciliate. Damp woods, Taconic and Catskill Mts., 

 and Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., and southw. along the Alleghenies. May. 



