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I. AQUIFOLIUM VARIETIES 



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^HE great number of varieties attributed 

 to I. Aquifolium has previously been 

 noted, and some of them are very 

 remarkable, differing so widely from 

 the type that they might well be taken for 

 distinct species were it not for intermediate forms. 

 Whilst admitting the great variability of I. 

 Aquifolium, however, there appears to have been 

 too much lumping done with the garden varieties ; 

 for, whilst the majority of them can be traced to 

 that species fairly accurately, there is a distinct 

 set with large leaves, of which platyphylla and 

 Shepherdi are examples, which certainly ought 

 not to be classified as varieties of the " Common 

 Holly." In every particular leaves, growth and 

 fruit they resemble the Canary Island species, 

 I. platyphylla, more closely than they do I. 

 Aquifolium, and they are evidently varieties of 

 it, or hybrids between that species and the 

 " Common Holly." The connecting link between 

 the two species appears to be the " Balearic 

 Holly," known in gardens as I. A. var. balearica. 



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