16 



ILICINEJE. I. MYGINDA. II. LEPIONURUS. III. ILEX. 



169. P. Browne, jam. t. 17. f. 1. Jacq. icon. rar. t. 311. 

 Flowers small, reddish. Drupe about the size of a red currant, 

 containing one nut. 



Rhacoma Myginda. Clt. 1798. Shrub 3 feet. 



9 M. LATIFOLIA (Swartz, fl. ind. occ. 1. p. 342.) leaves ellip- 

 tical, crenate, smooth, on short footstalks, coriaceous ; peduncles 

 trifid, few flowered ; stigmas 2-4, almost sessile. 1? . S. Native 

 of the Caribbee islands. Flowers small, white. Drupe ovate, 

 about the size of pepper, drooping. 



Broad-leaved Myginda. Fl. Ap. May. Clt. 1795. Sh. S ft. 



10 M. INTEGRIFOLIA (Lam. diet. 4. p. 396.) leaves elliptical, 

 blunt, entire, smooth, coriaceous, on short stalks ; peduncles 

 dichotomous, few-flowered ; flowers dioecious ; stigmas 4, ses- 

 sile. P? . S. Native of Martinique and St. Domingo. It is 

 probably a species of Vlcx, according to Kunth, but with the 

 true habit of Rhacoma. M. integrifolia Guadalupensis, Spreng. 

 syst. 1. p. 496. Flowers white ? 



Entire-leaved Myginda. Clt. 1826. Shrub 3 feet. 



11 ? M. BRASILIE NSIS (Spreng. syst. 1. p. 496.) leaves ob- 

 long, tapering to both ends, coriaceous, quite entire, shining, 

 reticulated ; panicles axillary, shorter than the leaves. Tj . S. 

 Native of Brazil. Flowers whitish ? 



Brazilian Myginda. Shrub 3 feet. 



12? M. GONGONHA (D. C. prod. 2. p. IS.) leaves oblong, 

 rounded at the base, with a short acumen at the apex, margi- 

 nate, remotely serrated ; racemes axillary, sparingly branched ; 

 flowers sessile ; branches terete. fj . S. Native of Brazil, in 

 the provinces of St. Paul and Minas Geraes, where it is called 

 Gongonha. Cassine Gongonha, Mart, in Isis. 1824. p. 589. An 

 infusion or decoction of the roots is a powerful diuretic ; the 

 leaves and branches possess the same quality, but in a less degree. 



Gongonha Myginda. Shrub 6 feet. 



Cult. A mixture of loam and peat will answer the species of 

 Myginda, and ripened cuttings will root in sand, under a hand- 

 glass ; those of the stove species in heat. 



II. LEPIONU'RUS (from XETTIC, lepis, a scale, and ovpa, 

 oura, a tail ; in allusion to the pendulous bracteate spikes of 

 flowers). Blum, bijdr. 1148. 



LIN. SYST. Moncecia, Telrandria. Flowers monoecious from 

 abortion. Calyx inferior, small, coloured, entire. Corolla deeply 

 4-parted, with spreading segments. Stamens 4, opposite the 

 segments of the corolla ; filaments very short, inserted in the 

 base of the corolla. Ovary girded by a short fleshy margin. 

 Stigmas 4, acute, sessile. Drupe baccate, fleshy, containing a 

 1 -seeded nut. Embryo albuminous, inverted. A shrub, with 

 alternate, oblong, entire, smooth leaves, and axillary, pendulous 

 spikes of flowers, before expansion covered with imbricate brae- 

 teas, each bractea covering 3 flowers. 



1 L. JAVA'NICUS. ^ . S. Native of Java. 



Java Lepionurus. Shrub 6 feet. 



Cult. For culture and propagation, see stove species of last 



III. TLEX (this name is originally derived from ac, a point in 

 Celtic ; the leaves of several species are prickly). Lin. gen. no. 

 172. D. C. prod. 2. p. 13. Aquifolium, Tourn. inst. t. 371. 

 Gaert. fruct. 2. t. 92. 



LIN. SYST. Tetrandria, Tetragynia. Calyx 4-5-toothed, 

 permanent. Corolla 4-5-cleft, sub-rotate. Stamens 4-5, alter- 

 nating with the segments of the corolla, and inserted in its tube. 

 Ovary sessile, 4-celled ; stigmas 4, almost sessile, sometimes dis- 

 tinct, sometimes connected in one. Berry containing 4-5 1- 

 seeded nuts. Seeds inverted ; albumen fleshy. Evergreen 

 shrubs or trees, with the leaves usually coriaceous. Peduncles 



many-flowered. Flowers small, usxially white, hermaphrodite, 

 rarely dioecious or polygamous from abortion. 



f" Leaves spiny-toothed. 



1 AQUIFOLIUM (Lin. spec. 181.) leaves ovate or oblong acute, 

 shining, waved, spiny-toothed at the apex ; peduncles axillary, 

 short, many flowered ; flowers subumbellate. Jj . H. Native of 

 Europe, in shady places. It is to be found in many parts of 

 Britain in woods and forests, but still it is a truly doubtful 

 native. Smith, eng. bot. t. 496. Fl. dan. 508. Mill. fig. 46. 

 Black, icon. t. 205. The holly rises even to 30 feet high, and 

 sometimes more. The flowers dirty white, hermaphrodite, dioe- 

 cious, or polygamous. Berries roundish, red, crowned by the 

 calyx, each containing 3 or 4 seeds. The holly is called also 

 in English Hulver and Holme. It is known by the name of 

 Hither in Norfolk. In German it has a great variety of appel- 

 lations ; Stechpalme, Stecheiche, Stechbaum, Stec/ilaub, Hulse, 

 Hulsenbaum, Hulsenstrauch, Hulst, IJulch, Hoist, Hubze, Hull- 

 genobz, Myrtendorn, Christdorn, Mausedorn, Zwieseldorn, 

 Kleesebusch, Slechapsel, Slechminde, Walddistel. In Danish 

 Stikpalme, Maretorn, Chirstorn, Skoutisdel. In. Swedish Jer- 

 nek, Christorn. In French, Le Houx, le grand ffousson, 

 I'Agron grand Pardon, and Bois Franc. In Italian, Agrifolio, 

 Alloro spinoso. In Spanish, Acebo Agrifolio. In Portuguese, 

 'Azevinho, Agrifolio, Acrifolio, Aquifolio. In Russian, Waefos- 

 cheld, Ostrokof, Padub. The holly makes an impenetrable 

 fence, and bears cropping well, nor is its verdure, or the beauty 

 of its scarlet berries, ever observed to suffer from the severest 

 of our winters. It would be preferable to the hawthorn for 

 hedges were it not for the slowness of its growth. A holly 

 hedge should always be cropped in May. The wood is the 

 whitest of all hard woods, and useful for various purposes. It is 

 used in Sneering, and is sometimes stained black to imitate 

 ebony. It is much used with box, yew, white-thorn, &c. in the 

 small trinkets, and other works carried on in and about Tun- 

 bridge, commonly called Tunbridge-ware. The bark also affords 

 the substance called bird-lime, which is prepared by boiling it 

 till the green part is capable of being separated from the white, 

 then laying it in a cool cellar for a few days, afterwards pound- 

 ing it till it becomes a tough paste, washing it repeatedly till it 

 gets quite clear ; then placing it in an earthen vessel to ferment 

 or become fine, when it will be fit for use. 



There are numerous varieties of this tree, which are highly 

 ornamental in clumps, borders, and other parts of pleasure 

 grounds, affording much variety when judiciously intermixed. 

 The most remarkable of these are as follow : the smooth green- 

 leaved, the common green-leaved, the narrow-serrated green- 

 leaved, the green-leaved yellow-berried, the box-leaved green, and 

 the hedge-hog green, the prickly silver-striped-leaved hedge-hog, 

 the gold-striped-leaved hedge-hog, the blutched-leaved hedge- 

 hog, yellow and white, the smooth white-striped-leaved, the smooth 

 yellow-white-striped-leaved, the smooth blotched-leaved, the 

 smooth narrow-striped-leaved, the blotched-leaved yellow-berried, 

 the cream-coloured-leaved, the copper-coloured-leaved, themhite- 

 leaved, the motlled-edged-lcaved, the painted lady, the various- 

 leaved, the thick-leaved holly, &c. 



Var. ft, echinatum (Mill. diet. no. 2.) leaves full of spines on 

 the disk, as well as the edges. Tj . H. Said to be originally 

 from North America. It does not change by culture. 



The leaves in young plants are always spiny-toothed, but in 

 the adult ones they are usually entire. The plant, native of 

 Cochin-china, is said to bear black berries ; it is therefore pro- 

 bable that this may turn out to be a distinct species. 



Prickly-leaved or common Holly. Fl. May, June. Britain. 

 Tree 30 feet. 



2 I. RECU'RVA (Link, enum. 1. p. 247.) leaves oblong, acu- 



