AQUIFOLIACE^E 669 



leaves serrate or entire; fruit bright red. 



Leaves oblanceolate or oblong-obovate, mostly entire; young branchlets pubescent; 



calyx-lobes acuminate. 2. I. Cassine (C). 



Leaves elliptic or oblong-elliptic, coarsely crenulate-serrate; young branchlets 



puberulous; calyx-lobes obtuse. 3. I. vomitoria (C). 



Leaves entire, ovate, ovate-elliptic or ovate-lanceolate; fruit brownish purple. 



4. I. Krugiana (D). 



Parts of the flower in 4's or o's, rarely in 6's; pedicels without bractlets; nutlets stria te, 

 many-ribbed on the back; leaves deciduous. 



Leaves oblong-spatulate or obovate-lanceolate, remotely crenulate-serrate; calyx- 

 lobes broad-triangular. 5. I. decidua (A, C). 

 Leaves ovate or oblong-lanceolate, sharply serrate; calyx-lobes acute. 



6. I. monticola (A). 



1. Ilex opaca Ait. Holly. 



Leaves elliptic to obovate-oblong, pungently acute, with thickened undulate margins 

 and few stout spinose teeth, or occasionally entire, especially on upper branches, thick, 

 coriaceous, dull yellow-green, paler and often yellow on the lower surface, 2'-4' long, with 

 a prominent midrib and conspicuous veins; persistent on the branches for three years, 



Fig. 603 



finally deciduous in the spring; petioles short, stout, thickened at base, grooved above, 

 slightly puberulent; stipules minute, broad-acute or nearly deltoid, persistent. Flowers 

 appearing in spring on slender puberulous pedicels, with minute acute bractlets, in short 

 pedunculate cymes from the axils of young leaves or scattered along the base of the young 

 shoots, 3-9-flowered on the staminate and 1 or rarely 2 or 3-flowered on the pistillate 

 plant; calyx-lobes acute, ciliate on the margins; stigmas broad and sessile. Fruit ripening 

 late in the autumn, persistent on the branches during the winter, spherical or ovoid, dull 

 red or rarely yellow, \' in diameter; nutlets prominently few-ribbed on the back and sides, 

 rather narrower at apex than at base. 



A tree, often 40-50 and occasionally 80-100 high, with a trunk 2, 3, or exception- 

 ally 4 in diameter, short slender branches forming a narrow pyramidal head, and stout 

 branchlets covered when they first appear with fine rufous pubescence disappearing during 

 their first season, and becoming glabrous and pale brown. Winter-buds obtuse or acu- 

 minate, '-' long, with narrow acuminate ciliate scales. Bark about \' thick, light gray 

 and roughened by wart-like excrescences. Wood light, tough, not strong, close-grained^ 



