Meliacea Melia. 99 



1. MfiLIA. 



Trees with alternate compound pinnate leaves and small 

 flowers in large much -branched axillary panicles. Sepals and 

 petals 5 or 6, the latter free, linear, contorted in aestivation. 

 Staminal tube long ; anthers within, below the summit. Fruit 

 a fleshy drupe, 1- to 5-celled ; cells 1-, rarely 2-seeded. M. 

 Azedarach, with bipinnate leaves and lilac fragrant flowers, will 

 live in the South-west of England if protected in Winter. 



1. M. Japonica. An ornamental tree of recent introduction. 

 It attains a height of 20 to 40 feet in Japan. Leaves large, 

 bipinnate; leaflets few and distant, ovate, crenate. Flowers 

 lilac, fragrant, in large axillary panicles. 



ORDER XXX. ILICINE^l. 



. Shrubs or trees, evergreen or deciduous. Leaves simple, alter- 

 nate, usually glabrous, coriaceous, entire or with prickly teeth, 

 destitute of stipules. Flowers regular, small, white, in axillary 

 or terminal cymes or fascicles. Calyx 3- to 5-partite, imbri- 

 cate. Petals 4 or 5, hypogynous, connate at the base, spreading. 

 Stamens 4 or 5, filaments free or slightly adhering to the base 

 of the petals. Fruit a drupe, more or less fleshy, with 3 to 8 

 1-seeded stones. Besides the genus Ilex, containing about 145 

 widely-distributed species, there are two other genera- : one 

 Australasian, of three species ; and one North American, with 

 only one species. 



1. ILEX (including Prlnos). 



Characters of the order. Prlnos, the ancient Greek name 

 for the Holly, was formerly held to be a distinct genus, founded 

 mainly upon the greater number of stones in the berries ; but 

 the examination of a larger number of species has induced 

 botanists to unite them. Most of the species referred to it are 

 deciduous. Ilex is the Latin name applied to Quercus Ilex, 

 the Evergreen Oak. 



1. /. Aquifolium. Common Holly. This is undoubtedly 

 the handsomest of indigenous evergreen trees, especially in 

 Winter, its dark green foliage contrasting so beautifully with 

 the bright scarlet berries. Besides the ordinary wild form 

 there is an infinity of varieties in cultivation, some of them 



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