262 . Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Ilex Aquifolium, Linn<. 



The Holly. Europe, Western Asia. In some cold regions the only 

 evergreen tree not coniferous. Known to have attained an age of 

 more than 150 years, a height of 60 feet and a stem-circumference of 

 8^ feet. Important as a hedge-plant. Branches well suited for con- 

 cealing unsightly objects, such as crude flower-pots, as the foliage 

 does not shrivel. It yields a wood for ornamental turnery, mathe- 

 matic and other instruments, remarkable for its almost whitish 

 paleness. A Holly-tree at Llanidlaes in Wales, supposed to be about 

 400 years old, is now 43 feet high, the circumference of the stem 

 near the root about 30 feet, having produced eight main branches 

 the largest of them with a circumference of nearly 12 feet; the expanse 

 of the foliage has a diameter of 54 feet. Inscriptions cut into the 

 bark can be deciphered dated about 200 years back [Colonel G. 

 Lloyd-Verney]. In Norway it is indigenous to lat. 63 7', and in 

 lat. 59 45' it attained still a height of nearly 50 feet [Professor 

 Schuebeler]. The berries are deleterious. 



Ilex Cassine, Linn. 



Southern States of North- America. Hardy in England. A tea- 

 bush, to which also remarkable medicinal properties are ascribed. 

 Dr. Loesener draws attention to the fact that the true Tea-Ilex of 

 North- America is not I. Cassine (Linne), but I. Dahoon (Walter). 

 The vernacular names of these two species are Cassena and Dahoon, 

 the latter being the kind used for tea. Ilex opaca (Aiton) attains 

 a height of over 50 feet in Alabama. 



Ilex crenata, Thunberg. 



Japan. The wood employed there for superior kinds of wood-cuts. 

 This shrub proved hardy in Holland (C. Koch). 



Ilex Integra, Thunberg. 



Japan. Bird-lime can be prepared from the bark of this and 

 several other hollies ; from this species at the rate of 10 per cent. 



Ilex Paraguensis, St. Hilaire. 



The Mate. Uruguay, Paraguay and Southern Brazil. This kind 

 of Holly-bush, which attains finally the size of a small tree, is in- 

 serted into this list rather as a stimulating medicinal plant than as a 

 substitute for the ordinary Tea-plant, although in its native countries 

 it is very extensively used as such. From the province of Parana 

 alone more than 36 million pounds were exported in 1871, besides 

 9 million pounds used for home-consumption ; while in Rio Grande 

 de Sul the local provincial consumption is nearly four times as much, 

 not counting large quantities consumed by the aboriginal race. It is 

 cheaper than coffee or tea (about 5d. per lb.), but an individual there 

 uses about 1 lb. per week. It has a pleasant aroma, can be taken 



