668 TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



appearing in February and March, in racemes at first nodding, and conspicuous from the 

 long exserted dark red-brown caducous bracts, becoming erect as the flowers open. Fruit 

 about ' long, ripening in August and September; seeds T y-|' long, light brown. 



A tree, occasionally 40-50 high, with a stout often crooked or inclining trunk, occa- 

 sionally 15'-18' in diameter, and usually divided 12-15 from the ground into a number of 

 stout ascending branches, and slender rigid bright red-brown branchlets, becoming paler 

 during their second and third seasons; or sometimes a shrub, with numerous straggling 

 stout or slender stems frequently only a few feet high or occasionally 30-40 high. Win- 

 ter-buds about \' long. Bark of young stems and of large branches thin, the surface sep- 

 arating into small persistent scales l'-2' long, becoming near the base of old trees deeply 

 furrowed, dark red-brown, \' thick, and broken on the surface into short broad scales. 

 Wood heavy, close-grained, moderately hard, brittle, not strong, brown tinged with red, 

 with thick lighter colored sap wood of 40-50 layers of annual growth; burning with a clear 

 bright flame, and valued as fuel. 



Distribution. Damp sandy peat soil in swamps almost submerged for several months 

 of the year, or often in shallow rarely overflowed swamps; coast region of the south At- 

 lantic states from the valley of the Savannah River to the coast of western Florida, and 

 through the maritime Pine-belt of the Gulf coast to eastern Louisiana. 



XXXIII. AQUIFOLIACEJE. 



Trees or shrubs, with terete branchlets, scaly buds, and alternate simple entire crenate 

 or pungently toothed petiolate persistent or deciduous leaves, with minute stipules. Flow- 

 ers axillary, solitary or cymose, small, greenish white, dioecious; calyx 4-6-lobed, the lobes 

 imbricated in the bud, hypogynous; petals 4-6, oval or oblong, obtuse, free or united at 

 base, imbricated in the bud; disk 0; stamens as many as and alternate with the petals and 

 adnate to the base of the corolla; anthers introrse, 2-celled, the cells opening longitudinally, 

 small and sterile in the pistillate flower; pistil compound; ovary 4-8-celled, minute and 

 rudimentary in the staminate flower; style short or 0; stigmas as many as the cells of the 

 ovary, nearly confluent; ovule generally solitary in each cell, suspended, anatropous; 

 raphe usually dorsal, the micropyle superior. Fruit a drupe, with as many indehiscent 

 bony or crustaceous 1-seeded nutlets as carpels; sarcocarp thin and fleshy. Seed nar- 

 rowed at the ends, suspended; seed-coat membranaceous, pale brown; embryo minute 

 in the apex of the copious fleshy albumen; cotyledons plain; the radicle superior. 



The Holly family with five genera is distributed in temperate and tropical regions of the 

 two hemispheres. Of the five genera now recognized, only Ilex is important in the number 

 of species or is widely distributed. 



1. ILEX L. 



Characters of the family. 



Ilex with about one hundred and seventy-five species is found in all tropical and temper- 

 ate regions of the world with the exception of western North America, Australia, New 

 Zealand, Tasmania, and New Guinea, the largest number of species occurring in Brazil 

 and Guiana. Of the thirteen species which inhabit eastern North America, six are trees. 

 Ilex contains a bitter principle, ilicin, and possesses tonic properties. Ilex paraguariensis 

 St. Hilaire, of South America, furnishes the mate or Paraguay tea, and is the most useful 

 of the species. The European Ilex Aquifolium L. is a favorite garden plant, and is some- 

 times planted in the middle, southern, and Pacific United States. 



Ilex is the classical name of the Evergreen Oak of southern Europe. 



CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT SPECIES. 



Parts of the flower in 4's; pedicels with bractlets at the base; nutlets prominently ribbed 

 on the back and sides; leaves persistent. 



Leaves armed with spiny teeth; young branchlets glabrous or sparingly pubescent. 



1. I. opaca (A, C). 



