EVERGREEN, OR HOLM OAK. 299 



the only one that has been cultivated to any extent, or, 

 indeed, that will grow freely throughout the greater part 

 of the United Kingdom, for although some fine speci- 

 mens of other species, as Quer. suber (Cork tree), Quer. 

 esculus, <$fc, do exist in the south of England and in 

 Ireland, in warm and sheltered situations, they are of 

 too tender a nature to brave the vicissitudes of our cli- 

 mate, unless thus protected, and can never become avail- 

 able, either as ornamental or as timber trees, in ordinary 

 situations. Even the Ilex, in some of our very severe winters, 

 is so far affected as to be deprived of its leaves, as was 

 generally the case during the inclement winter of 1837-8, 

 which proved so destructive to the evergreens and tender 

 acclimated plants throughout the kingdom. The Ilex is 

 a native of the southern parts of Europe, being indigenous 

 to Italy, Spain, and the south of France, and it also ex- 

 tends its range into northern Africa and some parts of 

 Asia. Its power of occupancy does not appear to be great, 

 as it is rarely met with in forest -like masses, but dispersed 

 here and there, singly, or in groups. It also affects mari- 

 time regions, where it always thrives with greater vigour, 

 both in its native habitats and in Britain, than in districts 

 removed further inland. 



It is a tree of extraordinary duration, and, though its 

 increase after a certain period is slow, it remains in a 

 growing state for many centuries. Pliny, in his memo- 

 randa of the Ilex, makes mention of some trees growing 

 in his time, of a greater age than Rome itself, and which 

 at the lowest computation must at that time have been 

 fourteen or fifteen hundred years old. Its first introduc- 

 tion into England appears to have been about the middle 

 of the sixteenth century, or upwards of two hundred and 

 sixty years ago, as it is mentioned by Gerard ; and Evelyn, 



