ILEX 643 



sown (soil and seed together) shallowly. The varieties do not come true from 

 seed, and have to be propagated by cuttings or by grafting. Cuttings are best 

 made of thin side twigs about 4 ins. long, with a heel attached, and placed in 

 mild heat. They will also take root under a handlight out-of-doors, but are 

 slower. Grafting is done in spring on the seedlings of the type. 



Cultivated, as it has been, for hundreds of years in Britain, the common 

 holly has sported into an enormous number of varieties, most of them hand- 

 some, some curious, and a few worthless. An unfortunate practice, commenced 

 long ago when they were few in number, has obtained of giving them 

 cumbersome Latin names when colloquial ones would have served quite as 

 well. A representative selection of these varieties is given below. 



There is in Europe a well-marked group of evergreen hollies of which 

 I. Aquifolium may be taken as the type, which includes also I. Perado, 

 I. platyphylla, and its variety balearica. The origin of many garden hollies 

 is not known or recorded, but it appears certain that some of the European 

 hollies mentioned, chiefly perhaps the Balearic one, have been concerned in 

 the production of the great race of garden varieties known to-day. Those 

 with large, flattish, often less spiny and less glossy leaves show most strongly 

 the influence of the Balearic holly ; those with smaller, very polished, 

 undulated leaves have inherited a greater proportion of characters from I. 

 Aquifolium, or, like the variegated sorts, are branch sports from it. 



It may be remarked that all variegated hollies whose variegation is in the 

 centre of the leaf have a strong tendency to " run out,' ; that is, to revert to the 

 green sorts from which they originally sprang, and it is necessary to cut out 

 the green twigs as they appear. The marginally variegated ones do not show 

 such a tendency. 



Var. ALTACLERENSIS. Highclere Holly. Leaves dark, slightly glossy 

 green, up to 4^ ins. long, 3 ins. wide ; bark purplish ; spines variable. One 

 of the big-leaved group; male. The holly called "nobilis" scarcely differs 

 from this. 



Var. ARGENTEA MARGINATA. Silver-leaved. Leaves up to 3 ins. long 

 and 2 ins. wide, dark green in the centre with a silvery margin. There are 

 about half a score forms included under this variety, all with white leaf 

 margins amongst them : A. MARGINATA ERECTA, centre of leaf mottled 

 green ; and A. MARGINATA PENDULA (Perry's weeping), branches pendulous. 



Var. ARGENTEA MEDIO-PICTA. Silver Milkmaid. Leaves dark green, 

 with a large blotch of creamy white in the centre. Male and female. 



Var. ARGENTEA REGINA. Silver Queen. The best white variegated 

 sort ; young wood purplish, the variegation clear and broad. A male. 



Var. AUREA MARGINATA. Gold-leaved. This variety, like the "Silver- 

 leaved," includes some half a score forms ; they are all distinguished by the 

 leaves having an unequal margin of yellow. 



Var. AUREA MEDIO-PICTA. Golden Milkmaid. A fine variety, the leaves 

 very wavy at the margin, and the centre golden, with only a thin irregular 

 margin of green. Male and female. 



Var. AUREA PENDULA. Golden weeping. A pendulous variety with 

 purple bark, the dark green centre of the leaf surrounded by a margin of gold. 



Var. AUREA REGINA. Golden Queen. Probably the finest of all 

 variegated golden hollies. Leaves up to 3^ ins. long, 2^ ins. wide, margined 

 with deep yellow ; some leaves wholly yellow. Male. 



Var. CAMELLI^EFOLIA. One of the very finest of green hollies. Leaves 

 dark burnished green, oblong, the largest 5 ins. long and 2 ins. wide, mostly 

 without spines, but sometimes with one to eight spines. Female. 



Var. CHINENSIS, Loesener. A wild Chinese form of I. Aquifolium; 

 introduced by Wilson in 1901, and later. Leaves ovate-hnceolate, 3 to 

 4^ ins. long, \\ ins. wide, very spiny. Distinct from common holly in 

 the long narrow leaves. 



