600 A TEXT-BOOK OF BOTANY. 



d. AQUIFOLIACE;E (ILICACE^:) OR HOLLY FAM- 

 ILY. The plants are mostly shrubs or trees with alternate, petio- 

 late, simple leaves and small, white, regular flowers. The fruit 

 is a berry-like drupe containing several nutlets. The most im- 

 portant genus of this family is Ilex, a number of species of which 

 are found in the United States. 



The European holly (Ilex Aquifolium) contains a bitter gluco- 

 sidal principle, ilicin, which is found in the bark as well as the 

 drupes. The drupes contain a principle which is a homologue 

 of benzyl alcohol, and a glutinous substance which renders them 

 useful in the manufacture of bird lime. The American holly (7. 

 opaca} growing in the Eastern United States probably contains 

 similar constituents to the European holly. This is the plant 

 which furnishes the CHRISTMAS HOLLY. 



MATE, Paraguay or Brazilian tea, consists of the leaves of 

 Ilex paraguariensis (Fig. 331) found in Brazil, Argentine and 

 Paraguay. They contain about 2 per cent, of caffeine, n per 

 cent, of tannin and some volatile oil, and are used like tea in the 

 making of a beverage. Cassine or Appalachian tea consists of 

 the leaves of the Dahoon holly (Ilex Cassine) growing in the 

 Southern United States. These leaves contain about half as much 

 caffeine and tannin as Mate. 



e. CELASTRACEyE OR STAFF-TREE FAMILY. These 

 are shrubs, as Euonymus, or woody climbers, as the climbing bit- 

 tersweet (Celastrus scandens}. The plants are especially charac- 

 terized by their dehiscent fruits and scarlet or reddish arilled seeds. 



Euonymus atropurpureus (Wahoo or Burning Bush) is a 

 shrub or small tree. The twigs have four distinct cork-wings, 

 making them somewhat 4-angled. The leaves are opposite, petio- 

 late, ovate-oblong, acuminate, crenulate-serrulate and hairy be- 

 neath. The flowers are purplish and in axillary cymes. The fruifi 

 is a 3- to 4-lobed, persistent, loculicidally dehiscent capsule with 

 6 to 8 scarlet seeds. The bark of the root is official. 



The leaves of Cat ha edulis growing in Arabia and Abyssinia 

 are chewed and also used like tea. They contain the alkaloids 

 cathine and celastrine which are supposed to have similar proper- 

 ties to cocaine, as well as tannin and an ethereal oil. A yellow 

 coloring principle is found in the bark of Euonymus ting ens of 



