THE HOLLY FAMILY. 189 



duced, only the single and double rosy forms were known; 

 but within the last ten or fifteen years it has been much 

 improved by the French florists, who have given us white, 

 buff, yellow, orange, salmon, rose, nankeen, and rosy-lilac 

 varieties, which flower freely in a young and dwarf state, and 

 these plants are now largely grown as decorative window- 

 plants on the Continent. N. Jeanne d'Arc was one of the 

 first of the pure-white varieties, and numerous other distinct 

 seminal and cross-bred forms were raised by M. Mabire 

 prior to 1862. According to the 'Revue Horticole,' M. 

 Lambotte, an artist at La Muette, conceived the idea of 

 grafting different varieties of Periwinkle on the Oleander, and 

 successfully accomplished it. This is, however, not so sur- 

 prising as it appears at first, for both genera belong to the 

 Apocynaceae. It is even probable that the pretty Vinca rosea, 

 from Madagascar, would succeed on the Oleander which, 

 indeed, it somewhat resembles in habit, and in the shape and 

 colour of its flowers. The success of experiments like this 

 one, even if not of any practical value from a utilitarian point 

 of view, teaches us much on the natural affinities of genera and 

 species. 



THE HOLLY FAMILY (Aquifoliacece). 



Evergreen trees and shrubs found in various parts of the 

 world, especially at the Cape of Good Hope, West Indies, 

 and South America, but principally represented in our gar- 

 dens by the common Holly, flex aqulfolium, a plant pretty 

 generally distributed throughout all the countries of Northern 

 Europe. One South American species, I. paraguayensis, is of 

 economic importance, its leaves being used as tea (see ' Jour, 

 of Botany,' i. 30). /. latifolia, I. rotundifolia, I. opaca, and 

 others, are well-known ornamental shrubs. The sports and 

 seminal varieties of the common Holly are very numerous 

 (See 'Gard. Chron.,' vols. 1874-75); and these differ greatly in 

 habit, variegation, and in the colour of their fruit, there being 

 both scarlet and yellow berried forms, as in the common Yew 

 (Taxus}. Hollies are readily multiplied by cuttings of the 

 hardened growth inserted in autumn on a north border, or by 

 layers ; but the best and most successful plan of increasing the 

 finer varieties, and any desirable break or sport, is to bud on 

 the common Holly as a stock, either near the ground for bushes, 

 or at a considerable height for standards. Hollies for stocks 

 are best raised from seeds, which may be buried the first year 

 and sown the second spring after they are gathered. I have 



