356 ILICINEM. [Ilex. 



A large evergreen elim'bing shrut ; young parts and inflorescence 

 pubescent : branches sometimes spiny. Leaves l-|-3 in. long, ovate or 

 oblong-lanceolate, rounded and sometimes oblique at the base, shortly 

 stalked, coriaceous, wrinkled and turning yellow when dry. Spikes 

 axillary, solitary or twin, many-flowered ; hracts minute. Flowers 

 sessile, yellow. Perianth small, urceolate. Fruit ovoid, about | in. long, 

 orange-red, tipped by the remains of the style. 



Forests of Oudh, in damp shady places. Disteib.: From Behar and the 

 Konkan southward to Ceylon, and in the Malay Penins.; also in the 

 Malay Archipelago, Hongkong and N. Australia. 



XXXIV. ILICINE^. 



Shetjbs or trees. Leaves alternate, simple, usually coriaceous and 

 evergreen ; stipules minute or 0. Flowers small, in axillary cymes, 

 fascicles or umbellules, usually dicecious. Calyx 3-6-cleft, iitibricate 

 ia bud, persistent. Petals usually 4-5, free or connate at the base, 

 imbricate, deciduous. Stamens 4-5, adherinsr to the bases of the petals, 

 or sometimes free and hypogynous in the female flowers \ Jilaments 

 subulate; a^j^Ae/-* dorsifixed. J>^>^ 0. 0«;ar'^ free, 3-16 -celled ; style 

 usually short orO ; stigma capitate or discoid ; ovules pendulous, 1 or 

 2 in each cell. Drupe with 2 or more 1 -seeded free rarely connate stones. 

 Seed with a membrauous testa, albumen fleshy. Embryo minute. — 

 Species mostly tropical. 



ILEX. Linn.; Fl. Brit. lad. i. 598. 



Calyx 4-lobecl or-parted. Corolla rotate. Petals free or connate 

 at the base. Stamens 4-5, adhering to the base of the corolla in the 

 male flower, sometimes hypogynous in the female. Ovary 2-12- 

 c^lled; stigma hee OT confluent on the top of the ovary. Drupe 

 usually globose, with 2-16 stones.— Species about 170, of which 24 are 

 described in the Fl. Brit. Ind. 



To this genus belongs the English Holly,/, a quif olium, L,, aJao I. par a- 

 guayensis, the leaves of which yield the ' Mate' or Paraguay tea. The. 

 latter thrives in gardens in the plains of Northern India. 

 I. Doniana. DC. Prod, ii, 644, I. excelsa, Wall, (exsulca) ; Boyle III, 

 167; Brand. For. FL 76 (exel. syn. EhretioeJ ; F. B. I. i, 603. 



A medium-sized evergreen tree. Toung shoots and under surface of 

 young leaves and inflorescence pubescent. Leaves 2-4 in. long, ovate or 

 lanceolate, acuminate, quite entire, rather thin, glabrous, base acute, 

 lateral nerves arcuate ; petiole slender i-1 in.; stipules 2, minute. Vm- 

 hellules very shortly and stoutly peduncled. Flowers 4-5-merous. Calyx 

 lobes ovate, obtuse, ciliate. Petals ovate-rotundate, crenulate, united 



