CELASTRACE.13. 223 



Dr. Rousseau, of Paris, who published a paper in the Transactions of the ISfedico- 

 Botanioal Society of London recommending the decoction or powder of Holly leaves 

 and bark, as well as a new vegetable principle extracted therefrom, and called ilicine. 

 It was said to be equally efficacious with quinine and Peruvian bark, and in some cases 

 even superior. The silver medal was awarded to Dr. Eousseau for his communication 

 by the Medico-Botanical Society, and he subsequently received a prize for the same 

 subject from the French Academy. In the best chemical works we have consulted we 

 find ilicine described as forming brownish-yellow crystals, very bitter and febrifuge. 

 Much difference of opinion exists as to the efficacy of this agent in medicine, and it 

 does not appear as one of the recognized remedies of the Pharmacopoeia. Eeil 

 successfully employed the bark in cases where cinchona had failed, and Haller admin- 

 istered the juice of the leaves in jaundice with great advantage. The berries, however, 

 possess totally different qualities to the bark, being violently emetic and purgative, 

 and none but the thrush and blackbird can eat them with impunity. 



The varieties of the Holly are very many, and it is one of the few exceptions to the 

 rule that variegation ot the leaf is accompanied with a ragged or unhealthy appearance. 

 The markings of white or yellow in the leaves, the red, yellow, or nearly white colour of 

 the fruit, form the most pleasing effect to the eye in the shrubbery, or when gathered 

 and placed amidst other winter fctiiage. Thirty-one varieties of the common Holly are 

 given in certain nurserymen's lists, and may be purchased as possessing distinctive 

 features. 



The Holly grows best in a gravelly or loamy soil, where there is good drainage, 

 but where there is sufficient moisture about the roots, for in very dry localities it is 

 stunted in its gi'owth, but will live in almost any earth not saturated with moisture. 

 It is rarely injured by severity of weather ; for although it occasionally loses some of its 

 leaves in intense frosts, it recovers perfectly in the spring. This hardiness, and the 

 ease with which it is propagated and grown, renders the Holly one of our most valuable 

 ornamental evergi-eens. It may be interesting to observe that a foreign species of this 

 same genus (Ilex Paraguensis) gives the " mate" or Paraguay tea, so favourite a beverage 

 in the countries where it grows. The Holly is the badge of the Highland clan of the 

 Drunimoads. 



ORDER XXII.— C ELASTRACE^. 



Trees or shrubs, frequently spiny or climbing. Leaves opposite 

 or alternate, often leathery, always simple and undivided, without 

 glands. Stipules, if present, extremely eaducous and generally 

 minute. Inflorescence commonly cymose. Elowers small, greenish 

 or white, regular, generally perfect. Calyx small, persistent, 4- or 

 5-cleft or -partite, imbricated. Petals as many as the sepals, sessile 

 on the margin of the disk. Stamens 3 to 5 (very rarely 2 or 10), 

 inserted on the disk, alternate with the petals, free. Anthers 

 2-lobed. Disk conspicuous, annular or lobcd, rarely absent. Ovaiy 

 sessile on the disk, to which it sometimes adheres by its base, 3- to 

 5- (rarely 1-) celled. Style short and thick, usually entire. Placentsa 



