ILICINEtE— HOLLY FAMILY 



WINTER-BERRY. BLACK ALDER 



Ilex vcrticillata. 



Ilex, an ancient Latin name, here probably misapplied. 



A handsome shrub, varying from five to ten feet high, con- 

 spicuous for its clusters of bright scarlet berries which cling to 

 the branches well into the winter ; found in low grounds, moist 

 woods, and swamps. Ranges from Nova Scotia to Florida, west 

 to Ontario, Wisconsin, and Missouri. 



Bark. — Dark clouded gray ; branchlets at first yellow green, 

 later become grayish brown, finally dark gray; bitter and as- 

 tringent, medicinal. Winter buds extremely minute. 



Leaves. — Alternate, simple, pinnately veined, two to three 

 inches long, oval, obovate or oblong-lanceolate, wedge-shaped at 

 base, serrate, acute or acuminate at apex. They come out of 

 the bud involute, yellow green, smooth above, densely hairy be- 

 neath ; when full grown are bright green, thick, glabrous above, 

 somewhat downy beneath ; midvein and primary veins dei)ressed 

 above, prominent beneath. In autumn they darken or fall with 

 little change of color. Petiole one-half an inch long, grooved. 



Floivers. — May, June. Polygamo-dioecious, greenish white, 

 small. The staminate are in crowded clusters of three to twelve 

 in the axils of the leaves ; peduncles short with small brown scales 

 at the base. The pistillate are solitary or clustered. Parts of 

 the pistillate flowers are in fours, fives or sixes ; those of the 

 staminate commonly in sixes. Corolla rotate, segments imbri- 

 cate in bud ; stamens inserted on the base of the corolla; an- 

 thers large, brown, two-celled. 



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