216 WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



and bitterness, so as to be moderately tonic, though doubtless much 

 over-rated in popular estimation. It has been so long and so generally 

 noted, as an Indian medicine, under the name of Pipsissewa, that every 

 one who resides in the country ought to be able to identify it. 



ORDER XLIIL AQUIFOLIA'CE^E. (HOLLY FAMILY.) 



Trees or shrubs with s.mall axillary 4-5 merous flowers, a minute calyx free from the 4-6- 

 celled ovary and the 4-6-seeded berry-like drupe. Stamens as many as the divisions of 

 the almost or quite 4- 6-petalled coroZta, and alternate with them, attached to their very 

 base. Corolla imbricated in the bud. Antliers opening lengthwise. Stigmas 4-6, or 

 united into one, nearly sessile ; seed suspended and solitary in each cell. Albumen fleshy. 

 Leaves simple, mostly alternate. Flowers white or greenish. 



1. I'LEX, L. HOLLY. 



[The ancient Latin name of the Holly-Oak ; applied here.] 



Flowers more or less diceciously polygamous, but many of them perfect. 

 Calyx 4-6-toothed. Petals 4-6, separate, or only united at the base, 

 oval or obovate, obtuse, spreading. Stamens 4-6. The berry-like drupe 

 containing 4-8 little nutlets. Leaves alternate. Fertile flowers inclined 

 to be solitary, and the partly sterile flowers to be clustered in the axils. 

 | 1. Parts of the flowers commonly in fours, sometimes in Jives or sixes, 

 most of them perfect ; drupe red, its nutlets ribbed, veiny, or one-grooved 

 on the back ; leaves coriaceous and evergreen. AQUIFOLIUM. 



1. I. opa'ca, Ait. Leaves oval, the margins wavy and sharply spinose- 

 dentate ; flowers scattered or loosely fasciculate along the base of the 

 young branches and the axils. 

 OPAQUE ILEX. American Holly. 



Stem 15-40 feet high ; branches spreading. Leaves 2-3 inches long ; petioles % of an 

 inch in length. Flmvers whitish, ochroleucous, small ; pedicels with minute bracts tit IKISC. 

 Berries small, roundish ovoid, red when mature, persistent. 



Woodlands : Maine and southwards. June. 



Obs. This becomes a handsome little tree under cultivation ; it has 

 less glossy foliage than the European Holly (I. aquifolium), which is in 

 Europe considered to make the most durable hedge of any plant what- 

 ever. Our own species might be advantageously used for hedges where 

 the slow growth is not an objection. The seeds do not germinate until 

 the second year after planting. The bright berries of the Holly, and its 

 dark foliage, make it one of the most desirable evergreens for those who 

 decorate their homes on Christmas. The wood is very compact and of 

 fine texture, and is employed in the manufacture of whip handles, screws, 

 and other small articles. The tree attains a much larger size in the 

 Southern States than it does at the North. Doct. TORREY informs us 

 that there were some years ago, at the Highlands of Neversink, New 

 Jersey, several trees of unusual dimensions, some of them being as large 

 round as a man's body. The celebrated Paraguay Tea, or " Mate," 

 which is a substitute for both tea and coffjc to a large proportion of the 



