624 



The Hollies 



or taper- pointed, tapering or rounded at the base, short petioled, margined with 

 very small sharp, stift-tipped teeth above the middle, smooth or nearly so on both 

 surfaces. The flowers are axillar}', solitary or in clusters, on pedicels 2 to 5 mm. 

 long, opening in early spring. The calyx is 2 to 3 mm. across, smooth, its lobes 

 broadly triangular and pointed in the staminate flowers, blunt in the pistillate, 

 hair}'-f ringed ; corolla white, 5 to 6 mm. across, its petals oval, blunt. The sta- 

 mens are shorter than the petals. The fruit is a globose to oblong red drupe, 

 6 to 7 mm. in diameter; the nutlets, usually 4, are Hght brown and very promi- 

 nently ribbed. 



5. MOUNTAIN HOLLY Ilex montana Torrey and Gray 



Ilex monticola A. Gray 



A deciduous shrub or small tree attaining a maximum height of 12 meters 

 and a trunk diameter of 3 dm., occurring mostly in mountain woods from New 

 York to Georgia and Alabama. 



The trunk is short, its branches slender, spreading and ascending. The bark 



is about I mm. thick, close, Hght brown 

 and warty. The twigs are round, 

 smooth, reddish bro\vn becoming dark 

 gray. The leaves are very thin and 

 nearly smooth, eUiptic, eUiptic-lanceo- 

 late or rarely suborbicular, 6 to 20 

 cm. long, taper- pointed, narrowed or 

 rounded at the base, sharply toothed 

 on the margin, dark green and smooth 

 above, paler and smooth, except for a 

 few hairs along the prominent venation, 

 beneath. The flowers appear from May 

 to August, in clusters on short, lateral 

 stalks, the staminate on pedicels 12 

 mm. long, the pistillate sohtary or few 

 in a cluster, on short pedicels. The 

 calyx is 3 to 4 mm. across; its lobes are 

 broadly triangular, irregularly toothed, sharp-pointed and ciliate; corolla white, 6 

 to 8 mm, across, its lobes oval to obovate and blunt; stamens shorter than the 

 corolla-lobes. The fruit is a scarlet globose drupe about 12 mm. in diameter, 

 crowned with the large stigma; the nutlets are strongly ribbed. 



The wood is hard, close-grained, nearly white; its specific gravity is about 

 0.66. It takes kindly to cultivation and is a desirable addition to decorative 

 shrubbery on account of its bright fohage and briUiant fruit. 



"2 / 



Fig. 574. Mountain Holly. 



