102 HOLLY FAMILY. 



XXIX. ILICINEJ!, HOLLY FAMILY. 



Trees or shrubs, with leaves alternate, simple; stipules 

 small, usually falling early; small, mostly polygamous, or 

 , dioecious, axillary flowers, having divisions of the free calyx, 

 petals (these almost or quite distinct), stamens (alternate 

 with petals), and cells of the ovary of the same number (4-8 

 or even 9), and fruit berry-like, containing 4-8 single-seeded 

 little stones. Ovule solitary, hanging from the top of each 

 cell. Sessile stigmas 4-8, or united into one. Flowers white. 



1. ILEX. Parts of the flower 4-6. Petals or corolla-lobes oval or obovate. Sterile flowers 



clustered in the axils ; fertile, often solitary. Flowers early summer ; fruit autumn. 



2. OTEMOPANTHES. Parts of the flower 4 or 5. Petals linear. Calyx-teeth minute or 



obsolete. Flowers solitary on long, slender, axillary peduncles. 



1. ILEX, HOLLY. (Ancient Latin name of the Holly Qak.) 



§ 1. Tkde Holly, with thick and rigid evergreen leaves, red berries, and 

 parts of the flowers in fours, rarely some in fives or sixes. 



* leaves spiny-toothed. 



I. Aquifblium, Linn. European Holly, is occasionally planted, but 

 not hardy N. ; tree with very glossy and wavy, spiny leaves ; umbellate 

 clusters of many flowers followed by many varieties in form and variega- 

 tion of leaves and color of berries, in cultivation. Bright red berries. 



I. opaca, Ait. American H. Tree 20°-40° high, smooth, with gray 

 bark, oval leaves, wavy-margined and spiny-toothed ; flowers one to few 

 in a cluster, berries dull red. Low grounds from Maine and Ind. S. 



Also cult. T . 



# * Leaves not spiny. 



I. Casslne, Linn. Cassena, Yatjpon. Shrub on the sandy coast S., 

 with oblong or lance-ovate, crenate leaves only 1' long, and flowers in ses- 

 sile clusters. Leaves used for Yaupon tea. 



I. Dahdon, Walt. Dahoon H. Shrub or small tree, of low pine 

 barrens from B. Va. S., a little downy, with obovate or oblong-linear, 

 short-petioled leaves sparingly toothed above the middle ; or, var. myrti- 

 fdlia, with narrower leaves barely 1' long and mostly entire. 



§ 2. Prinoides. Parts of the flower 4, 5, rarely 6 ; nutlets striate on the 

 back; shrubs with deciduous, mostly thin leaves; drupes red or purple. 



I. decfdua, Walt. Leaves wedge-oblong or lance-obovate, obtusely 

 serrate, downy on- the midrib beneath, when old, glossy above ; calyx-lobes 

 acute. Wet grounds S. and W. 



I. monticola, Gray. Leaves ovate or lance-oblong, 3'-5' long, acumi- 

 nate, thin, smooth, sharply serrate ; fertile peduncles very short. N. Y., 

 S. in the mountains. 



I. m611is, Gray. Like the last, but leaves, softy-downy beneath ; pedicels 

 and calyx downy. Shady grounds along the Alleghanies from Penn. S. 



§ 3. Prinos. Parts of the blossom 6 (or sometimes 5-9) in the fertile, 

 4-6 in the sterile flowers ; nutlets of the berry smooth and even ; shrubs. 



* Leaves deciduous ; flower-clusters sessile (or fertile flowers solitary) ; 

 fruit bright red. 



I. verticillata, Gray. Common Winter Beery, Black Alder. Leaves 

 (!J'-2' long) obovate or wedge-lanceolate serrate, acute or pointed at 



