530 NEW ENGLAND TREES IN WINTER. 



HOLLY 



American Holly, White Holly. 

 Ilex opaca Ait. 



HABIT A shrub or small tree rarely reaching 30 ft. in height, with 

 a trunk diameter of 15-18 inches; larger south and west; with slender 

 horizontal drooping or slightly ascending branches forming a compact 

 conical head with spiny evergreen leaves. 



BARK Light gray, smooth becoming somewhat roughened with age. 



TWIGS Rather slender, grayish to yellowish brown, smooth or more 

 or less downy. LENTICELS inconspicuous. 



LEAF-SCARS Alternate, more than 2-ranked, semi-oval. BUNDLE- 

 SCARS solitary. 



LEAVES Thick, evergreen, elliptical to obovate, spiny-tipped and 

 with few spiny teeth or rarely entire, dull yellowish-green above, pale 

 and yellower beneath; midrib prominent beneath, with short, stout, 

 slightly fine-downy leaf-stalks, grooved above. STIPULES minute, awl- 

 shaped, persistent. 



BUDS Short, blunt, roundish, more or less downy, terminal bud 

 pointed. 



FRUIT Persistent through the winter, about the size of a pea, dull 

 red or rarely yellow, berry-like, with four ribbed nutlets. Some trees 

 bear only sterile flowers and therefore never produce fruit. 



COMPARISONS The American Holly closely resembles the cultivated 

 European Holly [Hex Aquifoliwn L.] but the leaves of this latter 

 species are described as glossier, of a deeper green color, more wavy- 

 margined with whitish translucent edges, and the berries as of a 

 deeper red color. 



DISTRIBUTION Generally found in somewhat sheltered situations in 

 sandy loam or in low, moist soil in the vicinity of water. Massachusetts, 

 southward to Florida; westward to Missouri and the bottom-lands of 

 eastern Texas. 



IN NEW ENGLAND Maine reported on the authority of Gray's 

 Manual, sixth edition, in various botanical works but no station is 

 known; New Hampshire and Vermont no station reported; Massachu- 

 setts occasional from Quincy southward upon the mainland and the 

 island of Naushon; rare in the peat swamps of Nantucket; Rhode Island 

 common in South Kingston and Little Compton and sparingly found 

 upon Prudence and Conanicut islands in Narragansett Bay. 



IN CONNECTICUT Rare; roadsides and thickets; escaped from cul- 

 tivation or possibly native. 



"WOOD Light, tough, not strong, close-grained, nearly white when 

 first cut, turning brown with age and exposure, with thick rather light- 

 er colored sapwood, valued and much used in cabinet making, in the 

 interior finish of houses and in turnery; the branches are much used in 

 Christmas decorations. 



