530 XEW EXGLAXD TREES IX WIXTER. 



HOLLY 



American Holly, White Holly. 

 Ilex opaca Ait. 



HABIT — A shrub or small tree rarely reaching- 30 ft. in height, with 

 a trunk diameter cf 15-lS inches; larg'er soutli and west; "U'itli slender 

 horizontal drooping or slightty ascending branches forming a compact 

 conical head wiLh spiny evergreen lea\"es. 



BARK — Light gra\'. smooth becoming somewhat rougiiened "U'ith age. 



TAVIGS — Rather slender, grayish to yellowish brown, smooth or more 

 or less doT\'ny. Ll^XTICELS — -ineonspicuous. 



LEAF-SCABS — Alternate, more than 2-ranked, semi-oval. BUNDLE- 

 SCARS— solitary. 



1jKA\"ES — Thiuk. e\-ergreen. ell iptical to obr.\-at e, spiny- tipped and 

 "With few £pin>" Li.-ei h iir rareU" t- n i ire. dull >"ell"\\"ish-grt'en a bo\"e, pale 

 and yeliowtr bt-m-aih; midrib prumintni btneatii. with short, stout. 

 slightly fine-downy leaf-stalks, gruuved above. STIPULES — minute, awl- 

 shaped. i.tersistent. 



nins — Short, blunt, roundish, n^ore or less dow'ny, terminal bud 

 pui n Led. 



nil IT — Persistent through the winter, about the size of a pea, dull 

 red or rarely >ellnw, l:>erry-like. with fiiur rihl^ed nutlets. Some trees 

 bear only steriU llowers and thert-fnre ne\tr pruduue fruit. 



roirPARISOXS — The American Holly closely resembles the cultivated 

 European Holly [Ilex Aquifolium L.] but the leaves of this latter 

 species are deseribt-d as glossier, of a deeper green color, more wavy- 

 margined with whitish translucent edges, and the berries as of a 

 deeper red color. 



DISTRIBTT10.\ — Generally found in somewhat sheltered situations in 

 sandy loam or in low, moist soil in the \-irinity of water. Massachusetts, 

 southward to Florida; westward to Missouri and the bottom-lands of 

 eastern Texas. 



TX XET\" EXGLAXD — Maine^reported on the authority of Gray's 

 Manual, sixth edition, in various botanical works but no station is 

 known; Xew Hampshire and Vermont — no station reported; Massachu- 

 setts — occasional from Quincy southward upon the mainland and the 

 Island of Xaushon; rare in the peat swamps of Nantufket; Rhode Island 

 — common in South Kingston and Little Compton and sparingly found 

 upon Prudence and Conanicut islands in Xarragansett Bay. 



IX C'JXXECTTCUT — Rare; roadsides and thbktts; escaped from cul- 

 tivatiun ur pMSsibl\' natixf. 



AVOOD — Light, tr.ugh. not strong, close-drained, nearly white when 

 first cut. turning brnwii with age a~nd exposlire, with Ihirk rather light- 

 er colored sapwond, \-a)ued and mu-h used in raid net making, in the 

 Interior finish of houses and in turner\-; the brauL-hts are much used in 

 Christmas decora tiuns 



