HOLLY FAMILY 



swamps and lowlands in company with the Carolina 

 rose. In June the rose has the advantage, but when 

 October comes and the Winter-berry stands clothed in 

 scarlet, aflame to the utmost tip of its tiniest twig, it, 

 too, has its da)'. 



In cultivation the bush properly belongs to the 

 group of plants prized for the distinctly effective color- 

 ing of their fruit; such as, the snowberries, the barber- 

 ries and the burning bushes. 



SMOOTH WINTER-BERRY 



Ilex lavigatm. 



A very pretty shrub, six to ten feet high ; found in deep wet 

 swamps, from Maine to Virginia. 



Bark. — Twigs and branches smooth brownish green ; stems 

 grayish, frequently the host of many gray lichens. 



Leaves. — Alternate, sometimes in tufts, simple, pinnately 

 veined, oval or oblong, two or three inches long, acute at base 

 and apex, obscurely serrate, often slightly revolute ; when full 

 grown are thin, light green, shining above and beneath, glabrous, 

 sometimes hairy along the veins beneath. In autumn they turn 

 bright yellow. Petioles short. 



Flowers. — May, June. Perfect or dioecious, small, white, one- 

 fourth of an inch across, borne in the axils of the leaves. The 

 staminate are scattered or in twos, on very slender pedicels. The 

 pistillate are solitary, sessile or short-stalked. 



Fruit. — Berry-like drupe, bright red, one-fourth to one-third 

 of an inch in diameter; falls earlier than that of Ilex verticil- 

 lata. September. 



The Smooth Winter-berry should be better known; 

 for although native to the swamps it does not disdain 

 a garden home. Often confounded with the Black 

 Alder, it may be distinguished from it; in the spring 



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