276. ILEX CASSINE CASSENA HOLLY. 19 



276. ILEX CASSINE, L. 

 CASSENA HOLLY. DAHOON. HENDERSON- WOOD. 



Ger., Cassena Stechpalme; Fr., Houx de Cassena; Sp., Acebo de 



Oassena. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Lea res persistent, oblanceolate or obovate, 1^-3 in. 

 long, cuneate at base, obtuse or acute or emarginate (sometimes rounded or 

 retuse) at apex with revolute and entire margins or very remotely and sharply 

 appressed serrate near apex, thick, shining dark green above, paler and pubes- 

 cent on midribs beneath; petioles short, stout and usually pubescent. Flowers 

 white, scarcely l /2 in. broad, in hairy pedunculate clusters from the axils mainly 

 of the leaves of the year, the staminate 3-9-flowered and the pistillate usually 

 3-flowered, common peduncles nearly 1 in. long; calyx lobes acute, ciliate. Fruit 

 red drupes ripening in autumn and persisting until spring, subglobose, *4 in. in 

 diameter; nutlets prominently ribbed. 



The Cassena Holly, or simply Cassina as it is more often called, 

 is a handsome small tree occasionally attaining the height of 20 or 

 30 feet (8 m.), with rather broad rounded top and a trunk that may 

 be 12 to 18 inches (0.50 m.) in diameter. The bark of trunk is of a 

 brownish gray color and quite smooth, being but slightly fissured 

 lengthwise with age. In many localities, especially in the northern 

 part of its range, it is known only as a shrub. 



HABITAT. The coast region from southeastern Virginia south- 

 ward to southern Florida, and westward to southern Louisiana, grow- 

 ing in swamps and moist localities and reaching its largest dimensions 

 in Georgia, Alabama and Florida. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. The wood is rather light but tough, close- 

 grained, easily worked and of a creamy-white color. Specific Gravity, 

 0.4806 ; Percentage of Ash, 0.91 ; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 

 0.4762; Coefficient of Elasticity, 64192; Modulus or Rupture, 572; 

 Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 349 ; Resistance to Indentation, 

 113; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 29.95. 



USES. The trunks are not found abundantly of large enough size 

 to give the wood special commercial value, though possessed of quali- 

 ties quite similar to those of the common Holly (/. opaca) and suit- 

 able for the uses to which that is applied. Its shiny evergreen foliage 



