Ilex — Holly. 143 



leaves, the wavy margins being armed with strong, sharp 

 spines. It, too, is an evergreen, and attractive all the 

 year. The small white flowers appear in loose clusters 

 along the base of the young branches in May and June, 

 though they are never very conspicuous. The fruit is a 

 small, bright red berry continuing on the branches until 

 almost spring. The species is widely distributed along 

 the seacoast from New England southward, but not very 

 plentifully except in a few locations, and then it grows in 

 swamps where it is partially protected from the hot sum- 

 mer's sun and the sharp winds of winter. It is more plen- 

 tiful southward, extending even to Florida, and again 

 through the barren sections of the lower Mississippi val- 

 ley. It is accounted difficult of removal for transplanting, 

 and so it is after having acquired age and considerable 

 proportions. But grown in the nursery and frequently 

 transplanted, it may be as safely transferred from one lo- 

 cation to another as are most other trees. While it can 

 be made to thrive in almost any good garden soil, it will 

 do better in moist locations and where protected by build- 

 ings or trees from piercing winds. 



/. verticilata or prinos is a native of this country, a 

 deciduous shrub, growing about six feet, whose merits are 

 by no means appreciated. It is sometimes known as the 

 black alder, and in some sections as the winterberry. It 

 has ovate, wedge-shaped, pointed leaves, somewhat ser- 

 ater, and downy on the veins beneath, but its chief excel- 

 lence consists in the fact that in autumn it is covered with 

 a multitude of crimson-scarlet berries, which hold their 

 places long after the foliage is gone. It is easily one of 



