54 Holly (Ilicinece) 



Leaves, variable, reverse egg-shape to oval and wedge- 

 , shape, downy beneath, especially along the vines, 

 strongly net-veined. Apex and base pointed. Leaf- 

 stems, short. 



Fruit, about the size of a small pea, fleshy, bright red. 

 Nutlets, six to eight, smooth, moon-shape, often 

 continuing in place long after the leaves have fallen ; 

 a drupe. September, October. 



Found, in moist woods or swamps ; common. 



A shrub, usually about eight feet high ; very notice- 

 able among the autumn trees and bushes because of its 

 show of fiery-red berries. Its bark is tonic, astringent, 

 and antiseptic, and is often used with the effect of Peru- 

 vian bark in intermittent fevers. " It is probably as well 

 known to domestic practice as any indigenous shrub." 



Smooth Winterberry. /. lavigata (Pursh.), Gray. 



This species differs from the last chiefly in these 

 items : 



Flowers, the staminate forms on stems nearly one inch 

 long. June. 



Leaves, shining above, smooth beneath, and only minutely 

 downy on the veins. Leaf-stems, one half to five 

 sixths of an inch long. 



Fruit, larger than the last (about one third inch in diam- 

 eter) and ripening earlier. September. 



Found, in wet ground from the mountains of Virginia 

 northward. 



Fig. 12. Inkberry. /. glabra (LJ, Gray. 



Flowers, small and white, with the parts mostly in sixes ; 

 the staminate blossoms in a three- to six-flowered 



