BROAD-LEAVED EVERGREENS 363 



this country. Hardy in sheltered localities as far north as eastern Massa- 

 chusetts. 



The tjTjical tall-growing form is usually distinguished as var. arborescens, 

 L.; its leaves are usually elliptic and about 1 inch long. A number of garden 

 forms are in cultivation of which perhaps var. rotxmdifolia, Baill., with broadly 

 oval leaves, and var. myrtifolia, Sweet, with smaller elliptic-oblong leaves 

 are most often cultivated; these, like the other forms, remain usually lower 

 than the type. 



B. microphylla var. japonica, Rehd. & Wils. {B. japonica, Muell. Arg. 

 B. sempervireris var. japonica, Makino. B. obcordata, Hort.) . Shrub to 6 feet tall 

 with spreading branches; branchlets sharply quadrangular, glabrous: leaves 

 obovate to orbicular-obovate, rounded or emarginate at apex, cuneate at 

 base, K-lH inches long, bright green; petioles glabrous: flowers in axillary 

 clusters; the rudimentary pistil of the staminate flowers about as long as the 

 calyx. Flowers in spring; fruit in autumn. Japan. — Introduced probably 

 about 1860 by Siebold to Europe and in 1892 by Prof. C. S. Sargent to the 

 Arnold Arboretum where it has proved perfectly hardy. It is a shrub of 

 looser more spreading habit with lighter colored foliage than the common box. 



The typical B. microphylla, Sieb. & Zucc, from Japan, is a much lower 

 shrub not exceeding 3 feet in height and sometimes prostrate, with leaves 

 J/3-I inch long and the flower-clusters mostly terminal. The variety sinica, 

 Rehd. & Wils., from China, differs in its puberulous branchlets and petioles 

 and attains a height of 8 feet. It was introduced in 1900 by E. H. Wilson to 

 England and later to this country, but did not prove hardy at the Arnold 

 Arboretum. 



AQUIFOLIACE^. HOLLY FAMILY 



ILEX, L. HOLLY 



Evergreen or deciduous shrubs or trees; winter-buds small with about 3 

 outer scales: leaves petioled, entire or toothed, often with spiny teeth; 

 stipules minute, deciduous: flowers dioecious or polygamous, axillary, solitary, 

 fascicled or in cymes, small, white or greenish-white, usually 4-merous, or 

 5-8-merous; stamens 4-5; disk wanting; ovary superior, 3-many-celled, each 

 cell with 1 or 2 pendulous ovules; stigma subsessile: fruit a berry -like drupe 

 with 2-8 bony 1 -seeded nutlets. (Ancient Latin name of Quercus Ilex trans- 

 ferred to this genus.) — About 300 species in the temperate and tropical 

 regions of both hemispheres. 



I. Aquifolium, L. English Holly. Tree to 40 or occasionally to 70 feet 

 tall, with short spreading branches forming usually a pyramidal or oblong 

 head, glabrous or the yoimg branchlets minutely puberulous: leaves short- 

 petioled, ovate or elliptic to oblong-ovate, 1)^-3 inches long, margin wavy 



