CHAPTER XLVI: THE HOLLIES 



Family Aquifoliace/^ 



Genus ILEX, Linn. 



Trees of small size, or shrubs. Leaves simple, alternate, 

 petioled. Flowers minute, axillary, dioecious or polygamous. 

 Fruit, a berry-like drupe. 



KEY TO SPECIES 



A. Foliage evergreen. 



B. Leaves spiny. (/, opaca) American holly 



BB. Leaves not spiny. 



C. Length 2 to 4 inches, margins mostly entire. 



(/. Cassine) dahoon 

 CC. Length i to 2 inches, margins crenate. 



(/. vomitoria) yaupon 

 AA. Foliage deciduous. 



B. Leaves blunt pointed, crenate, i ^ to 2^ inches long. 



(/. decidua) swamp holly 

 BB. Leaves taper pointed, serrate, 3 to 6 inches long, 



(/. moniicold) mountain holly 



The holly family is distributed in every continent, and 

 ranges from the North Temperate to the South Temperate zones. 

 Many species are tropical. They are all trees or shrubs, the 

 centre of whose distribution seems to be in South America. Of 

 the 175 species, about seventy are found in northern Brazil. 



The mate, or Paraguay tea, to which the people of South 

 America are addicted as North Americans are to tea and coffee, 

 is made of the dried and powdered leaves of two holly trees of 

 Paraguay. Chief of these is Ilex Paraguariensis. These are the 

 most important species, in a commercial sense. "Verba mate" 

 has a remarkable stimulating effect upon the human system, 

 fortifying it for incredible exertion and endurance. Indulged in 

 to excess, it has much the same effect as alcohol, 



China and Japan have thirty different species of hollies, 

 360 



