62 THE HOLLY TREE. 



edges intersect, grow hard and sharp. The position of the leaf hecomes 

 more horizontal ; as it grows older it even droops. Holly leaves are 

 remarkable tor their thick leathery texture, and the bright gloss on 

 their smooth and undulating surfaces : the underside is, however, dull, 

 and paler and yellower in tint. The accompanying drawings will give 

 an idea ot the shape and tormation ot the leaves. When tally developed 

 thev are about two-and-a-halt inches lon^; and one-and-a-haU inches 

 wide, and attached to a stent short petiole \\'hich springs Ironi the 

 shoct in a ^-imilar line to that which the shoot takes trom the bough : 

 at the base of the young leaves are tiny stipules. As a rule tlie 

 leaves en any one tree are either all luriiished with spines or all 

 smooth at the edge. Occasionally some smooth leaves are found en 

 the upper brandies oi: an otherwise prickly-leaved tree. Holly leaves 

 have the power ct reflecting a more brilliant and iridescent high-light 

 than these ( t any ether tree. This brightness of the reflected light 

 is due to the polished surface of the smootli thick leaf, while the 

 many-coloured reflections on the leaves of any one tree (or even, it 

 may be, on a single leaf), are occasioned by their peculiar forms. 

 These are so much curved and twisted that the leaf-faces are not all 

 in one plane but lie at very various angles, each of which may reflect 

 a different ptjrtion of the sky or borrow the bright hues of different 

 surrounding objects. This is most noticeable in the case of leaves on 

 the edge (.f the tree, which are seen foreshortened, and thus reflecting 

 the sky immediately in front of the observer. Thick as the leaves 

 are, when still young they are not so opaipic, but that the sunlight 

 can shine through them and heighten the vividness of tlieii- fresh 

 green. The young foliage is sometimes tinged with red, and the 

 shell-like leaves on certain of the variegated species are bcauti fully 

 shaded with white and ])ink when thev first exjiaiui. 



