THE LINDENS, ETC. 



49 



close-grained, and hard. The leaves are commonly 

 used for decoration at Christmas time. 

 Dahoon Holly. '^^® Dahoon holly is a small tree 

 Em Dahoon. (frequently it appears in shrub form, 



Ilex Cassine, , ^/\J?J_^•^\ i ' i 



not over 10 leet high) wmch grows 

 in the pine barrens or swamps of Virginia, 

 and from there southward ; rarely it at- 

 tains a height of 30 feet. The ever- 

 green leaf is two or three inches long, 

 with a curling margin toothed only 

 at the end ; sometimes it has no 

 teeth at all, and what there are 

 can not be called spiny. The 

 berries are a varied red — less 

 scarlet, perhaps, than those of I. 

 opaca. The small branches and the veins on the 

 under side of the leaf are somewhat downy. An- 

 other species of holly which often reaches the pro- 

 portions of a tree, particularly on tlie 

 slopes of the Alleghany Moun- 

 tains, is called Ilex mon- 

 ticola ; but this has light 

 green deciduous leaves, and 

 their shape is not hoUyhke ; 



they are large, thin, smooth, and sharply toothed. 

 The large red berry is borne on a short stem. Flex 

 monticola is common in the damp woods of the Ta- 



Dahoon Holly. 



Ilex Monticola. 



