1704 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



which is convex on the lower side. Fruit and nutlets slightly larger than in I. Aqui- 

 folium. 



This species occurs in southern Spain and in the Balearic Islands. 1 It is closely 

 allied to /. Perado, but differs in having dense pubescence on the branchlets, and 

 the base of the leaf is not decurrent on the petiole. It is very distinct from the 

 common holly, which has leaves with very undulate margins and large sinuate teeth. 



/. balearica is said to have been introduced into England in 1744, and was 

 certainly cultivated in the Royal Garden at Versailles in 1789. It is usually pro- 

 pagated by budding or grafting upon the common holly, and is perfectly hardy at 

 Kew, Cambridge, and Paris, but requires protection during winter in Germany. 



This species regularly produces flowers 2 and fruit in England; and appears to 

 have given rise, in conjunction with the common holly, to a series of hybrids, which 

 began to be noticed about 1800, though they were considered at the time to be 

 simply varieties of the latter species (see p. 171 2). 



IV. Ilex opaca, Aiton, Hort. Kew. i. 169 (1789). 



A tree, attaining in America 50 ft. in height and 1 2 ft. in girth. Young branchlets 

 minutely pubescent, becoming pale brown in their first year. Leaves elliptic, about 

 3 in. long and 1 \ in. broad, convex and dull green above, concave and conspicuously 

 reticulate beneath ; margin with a few irregular spreading spiny teeth. Fruit dull 

 red, \ in. in diameter ; nutlets four. 



This species, which somewhat resembles the common holly in foliage, is readily 

 distinguishable by the brown branchlets ; and is a native of the United States from 

 Massachusetts to Florida, and westward to Indiana and Texas. It was introduced 

 in 1744 into England, and forms a small tree in our climate, which produces flowers 

 and fruit regularly. Though often grown with the common holly in nurseries and 

 botanic gardens, there is no evidence that this species has taken part in the origin 

 of the hybrid hollies. (A. H.) 



ILEX AQUIFOLIUM, Common Holly 



Ilex Aquifolium, Linnaeus, Sp. PL 125 (1753); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. ii. 505 (1838); 

 Willkomm, Forstl. Flora, 786 (1887); Mathieu, Flore Forestiere, 58 (1897); Loesener, in Nova 

 Acta Ac. Leop. Carol, lxxviii. 248 (1901); Schneider, Laubhohkunde, ii. 163 (1907). 



A tree, occasionally attaining 50 to 70 ft. in height, and 9 to 12 feet in girth, 

 often shrubby and then rarely over 30 ft. high. Bark smooth, greyish. Young 

 branchlets green or purplish, minutely pubescent. Buds minute, with two acuminate 

 outer scales. Stipules two, usually persistent as withered minute scales at the base 

 of the petiole. Leaves persistent about fourteen months, coriaceous, thick, ovate, 



1 It is probably much more wiclely spread in the Mediterranean region, but I have been unable to study its distribution. 

 /. Aquifolium, var. plalyphylloides, Christ, in Ber. Schweiz. Bot. Ces. xiii. (1903), a tree 30 ft. high occurring on rocky cliffs 

 on the west side of Lake Maggiore in Italy, is probably a form of /. balearica. 



* In nurseries the male plant of /. balearica is sometimes called /. maderensis, following the erroneous view of Moore, in 

 Card. Chron. ii. 751 (1874), that it came from Madeira, while the name /. balearica is wrongly restricted to the female plant. 

 /. Aquifolium, var. platyphylla of most nurseries, appears to differ in no respect from /. balearica; but see p. 1 7 14. 



