GENUS i. 



HOLLY FAMILY. 



489 



8. Ilex verticillata (L.) A. Gray. Vir- 

 ginia Winterberry. Black Alder. 

 Fever-bush. Fig. 2793. 



Prinos verticillatus L. Sp. PL 330. 1753. 



Prinos podifolius Willd. Enum. Hort. Berol. 394. 



1809. 

 Ilex verticillata A. Gray, Man. Ed. 2, 264. 1856. 



A shrub, 6-25 high. Twigs brown, glabrous 

 or slightly pubescent; leaves oval, obovate or 

 oblong-lanceolate, 2 '-3' long, about i' wide, acute 

 or acuminate at the apex, acute or obtusish at 

 the base, rather thick and coriaceous, dark green 

 and nearly glabrous above, pubescent, at least 

 on the veins beneath, sharply serrate; staminate 

 cymes clustered, 2-io-flowered, the fertile 1-3- 

 flpwered; pedicels 2-bracted; calyx-lobes obtuse, 

 ciliate ; drupes bright red (rarely yellow or 

 white), clustered so as to appear verticillate, 

 about 3" in diameter; nutlets smooth. 



In swamps, Connecticut to Florida, west to Wis- 

 consin and Missouri, perhaps extending further 



north. The leaves turn black in autumn. Striped, white or false alder. June-July 



9. Ilex bronxensis Britton. Northern 

 Winterberry. Fig. 2794. 



Ilex verticillata tenuifolia Torr. Fl. North. U. S. 

 338. 1824. Not /. tenuifolia Salisb. 



Ilex bronxensis Britton, Man. 604. 1901. 



/. verticillata cyclophylla Robinson, Rhodora 2 : 

 105. 1900. 



Similar to the preceding species, but with 

 grey slender twigs. Leaves various, obovate 

 to orbicular, i'-3' long, glabrous, or more or 

 less pubescent beneath; fruit often larger than 

 that of /. verticillata, orange-red. 



In swamps and wet woods, Nova Scotia to On- 

 tario, Michigan, Indiana and New Jersey. June- 

 July. 



Ilex fastigiata Bicknell, of Nantucket, recently 

 described, differs by fastigiate branching and nar- 

 rower lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate leaves. 



10. Ilex laevigata (Pursh) A. Gray. Smooth 

 Winterberry. Hoop-wood. Fig. 2795. 



Prinos laevigatus Pursh, FL Am. Sept. 220. 1814. 

 Ilex laevigata A. Gray, Man. Ed. 2, 264. 1856. 



A shrub, somewhat resembling the two preceding. 

 Twigs glabrous; leaves oval or oblong, thin, i'-2 r 

 long, mainly acute or acutish at each end, glabrous 

 on both sides or sometimes viflous on the veins be- 

 neath, turning yellow in autumn, finely serrulate; 

 staminate flowers solitary or occasionally 2 together, 

 on very slender pedicels 5"-o." long ; fertile flowers 

 solitary, much shorter-peduncled ; calyx-lobes acute, 

 glabrous; drupes larger "than in I. verticillata, orange- 

 red, rarely yellow, ripening earlier, on stalks about 

 equal to their diameter. 



In swamps, Maine and New Hampshire to Pennsyl- 

 vania and Georgia. Blooms earlier than the preceding. 

 Can-hoop. May-June. 



