52 



Myrtle or He-Huckleberry (Cyrilla racemiflora Z.).* 



A shrub or small tree that is abundant on the edges of swamps 

 and bays. The small, alternate, leathery leaves are obovate and 

 entire on the margin. Some of the leaves remain green through 

 the winter and even those that turn scarlet hang on for a long 

 time. They make a very attractive decoration for Christmas. The 

 small white flowers are borne in clustered racemes and are con- 

 spicuous in early June. The plant is well worthy of cultivation. 



Holly (Ilex opaca Ait.). 



One of the best known and loveliest of our trees, the holly has 

 suffered for its popularity. There are still left a number of fine 

 specimens in the environs of Hartsville, but they are being 

 rapidly destroyed. The utter disregard of the average person to 

 the conservation of natural beauty is distressing to any one who 

 can see in nature something more than a storehouse for our 

 material wants. Like the sassafras and the persimmon the holly 

 is dioecious, bearing its staminate and pistillate flowers on dif- 

 ferent trees. The staminate trees never bear fruit, and as the 

 berries are most prized for decoration, it is the sterile trees that 

 are now most commonly found in their original perfection. Such 

 a specimen, and one of the finest I have ever seen, stands near the 

 lake edge exactly behind the residence at Captain Cannon's Place. 

 In Plate XIV is shown a photograph of this tree taken in Decem- 

 ber, 1910. 



Carolina Red Maple (Acer carolinianwn Walt.). 



This is our only maple and it may be readily distinguished by 

 its opposite three and five-lobed leaves which are brownish or 

 grayish below and soft velvety to the touch. The small but con- 

 spicuous red flowers appear in very early spring, and the bright 

 red fruits (technically known as samaras) are nearly grown 

 before the leaves unfold. Our tree differs from the typical red 

 maple in having smaller, generally three-lobed leaves with vel- 

 vety undersurface. but this character is not constant. Leaves 

 from the same tree may be quite downy or entirely smooth below. 

 I doubt if it is anything more than a variety of the red maple. 

 It is one of our most desirable ornamental trees, being very attrac- 



♦That Harper did not see this plant from the train in his trip through 

 South Carolina from Augusta via Charleston and Florence to Wilmington, 

 is, as he says, surprising. I have seen it from the train between Charleston 

 and Florence. See Harper in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, Vol. 34, page 370. 



