Carolina Holly 



623 



3. DECIDUOUS HOLLY - Ilex decidua Walter 



This small tree, or more commonly a much branched shrub, grows on the 

 borders of swamps and streams from Virginia 

 to Illinois, Kansas, Florida and Texas, but it 

 does not occur in the mountains. Its maximum 

 height is about 10 meters, with a trunk diameter 

 of 2.5 dm. It is also called Possum haw and 

 Bearberry holly. 



The branches are spreading or ascending. 

 Its bark, scarcely 2 mm. thick, is pale brown 

 and warty. The twigs are round and smooth, 

 becoming light gray. The leaves are deciduous, 

 rather thick, usually clustered at the ends of 

 short branches, obovate to elliptic-obknceolate, 

 2.5 to 7.5 cm. long, blunt or notched at the apex, 

 tapering at the base, roundish toothed on the 

 margin; they are dark green and smooth above, 

 paler and somewhat hair}^ beneath; the leaf- Fig. 572- -Deciduous Holly, 



stalk is slender, grooved, 0.5 to 1.5 cm. long and hairy. The flowers appear with 

 the leaves, in axillary clusters, on pedicels 0.5 to 1.5 cm. long; their calyx is smooth 

 or but slightly hairy, its lobes triangular, sharp- pointed and somewhat fringed; 

 corolla white, 4.5 to 6 mm. across, its 4 petals obovate or nearly oblong and blunt; 

 the stamens are shorter than the petals. The fruits are orange-colored or scar- 

 let globose drupes 6 to 9 mm. in diameter, on short stalks, ripening in the autumn 

 and persisting on the branches during the winter. 



The wood of the Deciduous holly is hard, close-grained, yellowish white; its 



specific gravity is about 0.74. 



4. CAROLINA HOLLY 

 Ilex ambigua (Michaux) Chapman 



Prinos ambigmis Michaux. Cassine caro- 



liniana Walter. Ilex caroliniana 



Trelease, not Miller 



This as a small tree rarely attains a 

 height of 6 meters; it is much more oftqn 

 a shrub 2 to 4 meters high. 



The twigs are nearly smooth, some- 

 times reddish brown, but becoming dark 

 gray or brown. The leaves are decidu- 

 ous, rather thin, broadly oval to ovate, 

 obovate or elliptic, 4 to 7 cm. long, sharp 



Fig. 573. Carolina Holly. 



