AMERICAN FOREST TREES 645 



occasionally worked into small articles of furniture, but probably never 

 is used in large pieces. 



The wood is rather light, and the vague boundaries between the 

 annual rings, and the smallness and inconspicuousness of the medullary 

 rays, are responsible for the almost total absence of figure, no matter in 

 what way the wood is worked. The so-called California holly (Heterom- 

 eles arbutifolia) is of a different family, and is not a holly. 



DAHOON HOLLY (Ilex cassine) grows in cold swamps and on their 

 borders in the coast region from southern Virginia to southern Florida, 

 and westward to Louisiana. It is often found on the borders of pine 

 barrens, is most common in western Florida and southern Alabama, and 

 when at its best, is from twenty-five to thirty feet high and a foot or more 

 in diameter. The leaves are nearly twice as long as those of common 

 holly, and are generally spineless or nearly so. The fruit ripens late in 

 autumn and hangs on the branches until the following spring. The 

 berries are sometimes bright red, oftener dull red, and those fully up to 

 size are a quarter of an inch in diameter. Some hang solitary, others in 

 clusters of three. The wood is light and soft, weighing less than thirty 

 pounds per cubic foot. The heart is pale brown, and the thick sapwood 

 nearly white. The tree is known locally as yaupon, dahoon, dahoon 

 holly, and Henderson wood. This species passes gradually into a form 

 designated as Ilex myrtifolia, which Sargent surmises may be a distinct 

 species. Another form, narrowleaf dahoon (Ilex cassine anguslifolia), is 

 listed by Sudworth. 



YAUPON HOLLY (Ilex vomitoria) is a small, much-branched tree, 

 often shrubby, and at its best is seldom more than twenty-five feet high 

 and six inches in diameter. Its range follows the coast from southern 

 Virginia to St. John's river, Florida, and westward to eastern Texas. It 

 sticks closely to tidewater in most parts of its habitat, but when it 

 reaches the Mississippi valley it runs north into Arkansas. It attains its 

 largest size in Texas, and is little more than a shrub elsewhere. Berries 

 are produced in great abundance, are red when ripe, but they usually fall 

 in a short time and are not much in demand for decorations. The wood 

 weighs over forty-five pounds per cubic foot, is hard, and nearly white, 

 but turns yellow with exposure. The leaves of this holly were once 

 gathered by Indians in the southeastern states for medicine. The 

 savages journeyed once a year to the coast where the holly was abundant, 

 boiled the leaves in water, and produced what they called the "black 

 drink." It was nauseating in the extreme, but they drank copious 

 draughts of it during several days, then departed for their homes, confi- 

 dent that good health was assured for another year. 



MOUNTAIN HOLLY (Ilex monticola) is so named because it grows among the 



