102 HULLY F AMIT. V. 



XXIX. ILICINEiE, HOLLY FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs, with leaves alternate, simple ; stipules 

 small, usually falling early; small, mostly polygamous, or 

 dioecious, axillary flowers, having divisions of the free calyx, 

 petals (these almost or quite distinct), stamens (alternate 

 with petals), and cells of the ovary of the same number (4-8 

 or even 9), and fruit berry-like, containing 4-8 single-seeded 

 little stones. Ovule solitary, hanging from the top of each 

 cell. Sessile stigmas 4-8, or united into one. Flowers white. 



1. ILEX. Parts of the flower 4-6. Petals or corolla-lobes oval or obovate. Sterile flowers 



clustered in the axils ; fertile, often solitary. Flowers early summer ; fruit autumn. 



2. NEMOPANTHES. Parts of the flower 4 or 5. Petals linear. Calyx-teeth minute or 



obsolete. Flowers solitary on long, slender, axillary peduncles. 



1. ILEX, HOLLY. (Ancient Latin name of the Holly Oak.) 



§ 1. True Holly, loith thick and rigid evergreen leaves, red berries, and 

 parts of the flowers in fours, rarely some in Jives or sixes. 



* Leaves spiny-toothed. 



I. Aquifd/ium, Linn. European Holly, is occasionally planted, but 

 not hardy N. ; tree with very glossy and wavy, spiny leaves ; umbellate 

 clusters of many flowers followed by many varieties in form and variega- 

 tion of leaves and color of berries, in cultivation. Bright red berries. 



I. op^ca, Ait. American H. Tree 20°-40° high, smooth, with gray 

 bark, oval leaves, wavy-margined and spiny-toothed ; flowers one to few 

 in a cluster, berries dull red. Low grounds from Maine and Ind. S. 



^*^ ^^ ■ * * Leaves not spiny. 



I. Cassine, Linn. Cassena, Yaupon. Shrub on the sandy coast S., 

 with oblong or lance-ovate, crenate leaves only 1' long, and flowers in ses- 

 sile clusters. Leaves used for Yaupon tea. 



I. Dah6on, Walt. Dahoon H. Shrub or small tree, of low pine 

 barrens from E. Va. S., a little downy, with obovate or oblong-linear, 

 short-petioled leaves sparingly toothed above the middle ; or, var. myrti- 

 f61ia, with narrower leaves barely 1' long and mostly entire. 



§ 2. Prinoides. Parts of the flower 4, 5, rarely 6 ; nittlHs striate on the 

 back ; shrubs xoith deciduous, mostly thin leaves; drupes red or purple. 



I. decldua, Walt. Leaves wedge-oblong or lance-obovate, obtusely 

 serrate, downy on the midrib beneath, when old, glossy above ; calyx-lobes 

 acute. Wet grounds S. and W. 



I. monticola, Gray. Leaves ovate or lance-oblong, 3'-5' long, acumi- 

 nate, thin, smooth, sharply serrate; fertile peduncles very short. N. Y., 

 S. in the mountains. 



I. m6lliB, Gray. Like the last, but leaves, softy-downy beneath ; pedicels 

 and calyx downy. Shady grounds along the AUeghanies from Tenn. S. 



§ 3. Prinos. Parts of the blossom 6 (or sometimes 5-9) in the fertile, 

 4-6 in the sterile flowers ; nutlets of the berry smooth and even; shrubs. 



* Leaves deciduous; flower-clusters sessile (or fertile flowers solitary) ; 



fruit bright red. 



I. verticill^ta. Gray. Common Winter Berry, Black Alder. Leaves 

 (li'-2' long) obovate or wedge-lanceolate serrate, acute or pointed at 



