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CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



of general cultivation are mentioned here. The 

 general properties of the genus are antiseptic and 

 astringent ; the berries of the common Holly are 

 purgative and emetic, and the bark yields bird-lime. 

 Ilex Paraguariensis furnishes Paraguay-tea, or Mate : 

 this species, which will only thrive in the open air in 

 this country in the most favoured spots, is largely 

 cultivated in Paraguay and Brazil, and the con- 

 sumption of the dried leaves is enormous in South 

 America. /. cornuta, from China, is a very distinct 

 plant with hard dark green leaves, which are 

 generally furnished with five horn-like spines. I. 

 crenata, a Japanese species, of which there are varie- 

 gated forms, and one with roundish leaves, has small, 

 ovate, crenate leaves ; it is a small, compact grower, 

 and is suitable for making a neat low hedge ; indeed, 

 at one time, it was recommended as a substitute for 

 Box as an edging. /. dipyrena hails from Northern 

 India ; it has brownish berries and long, shortly- 

 stalked, remotely spiny- serrated leaves. /. latifolia, 

 from Japan, has large leaves from six to nine inches 

 long or more, and is one of the most distinct of all 

 the Hollies — probably, however, this cannot fairly be 

 called hardy except in the South and South-western 

 counties. I. opaca, the North American representa- 

 tive of our common British Holly, forms a tree from 

 twenty to forty feet high, but its deep green foliage 

 is less glossy, and its berries are not so red as 

 are those of our native plant. /. glabra, formerly 

 placed in a genus apart from Ilex (Prinos), and still 

 frequently met with in books under the name of 

 Prinos glaber, is the Inkberry of the United States ; 

 it forms a pretty, dense-habited bush, some two or 

 three feet in height, and in June its white flowers 

 contrast markedly with the small, wedge-shaped, 

 dark green leaves. Undoubtedly the most popular, 

 and for general decorative effect the most useful of 

 all the Hollies is /. Aquifolium, of which there is a 

 host of garden forms, sports, and seedling varieties, 

 differing wonderfully in the size, form, colour, and 

 prickliuess of the leaves, and the colour of the fruits, 

 these ranging from the bright scarlet of the wild 

 plant to white, yellow, or black. Amongst the best 

 of the green- leaved set are Balearica, with large, 

 ovate-acute, shining, flat, and entire or spiny- 

 toothed leaves; crassifolia, with very thick, dull 

 green leaves, the margins of which are furnished 

 with prominent saw-like teeth ; ferox, the Hedgehog 

 Holly, the leaves of which have their margins armed 

 with strongly developed spreading spines, and the 

 convex upper surface beset with spiny prickles. 

 Hodginsii is a handsome form, with large ovate 

 leaves, with strong distant marginal spines. Ovata 

 has ovate leaves with regular, angular, scarcely 

 spiny teeth. Pyramidalis is a compact, neat-growing, 

 small-leaved form, with six or eight pairs of spines 



on the same plane as the leaf. Tortuosa, often called 

 the Screw Holly, has spirally twisted, rarely spiny 

 leaves. 



The finest of the gold and silver variegated forms 

 are the following : — Argentea elegantissima has the 

 centre part of the leaf dark green with grey blotches, 

 and the margin creamy-white. Argentea marginata 

 has an irregular, narrow, silvery margin, the centre 

 being dark green, slightly mottled. Argentea medio- 

 picta has a large central blotch of creamy-white, the 

 margin being dark green; this is often called the 

 Silver Milkmaid. Aurea latifolia has the middle of 

 the leaf dark green, splashed with paler green, and a 

 well-marked but irregular margin of golden- yellow. 

 Aurea picta latifolia is a handsome and distinct form 

 known in nurseries as the Golden Milkmaid ; it 

 only differs from the Silver Milkmaid in the varie- 

 gation being yellow instead of white. Ferox argentea 

 is the silver variegated form of the common green- 

 leaved Hedgehog Holly. Handsworthensis is a 

 beautiful free- growing form, with strong, promi- 

 nent, white spines, and a distinct margin of creamy- 

 white. 



Illicium. — This genus of Magnoliacece contains 

 five species of beautiful, fragrant-flowered, evergreen 

 shrubs, which do w T ell in the open air in some places 

 in the South of England, but elsewhere require the 

 protection of a wall. I. anisatum has terminal clus- 

 ters of yellowish- white flowers ; it has ovate-lan- 

 ceolate leaves, and attains a height of about four feet 

 under cultivation. A native of China and Japan. 

 I. Floridanum, from the Southern United States, has 

 deep red flowers, and is a taller grower than the 

 first-named species. 



Indigofera.— Few of the species of this hand- 

 some genus are hardy except in very favoured 

 localities ; perhaps the one which succeeds best in 

 the open air is the Himalayan, I. Gerardiana, with 

 its neat, bright green, pinnate leaves, and many- 

 flowered racemes of pink flowers ; it is a very flori- 

 fei'ous shrub, thriving well in the Southern counties 

 in the open shrubbery, but probably requiring the 

 shelter of a wall in others. In gardens it is met 

 with under a variety of names, of which the most 

 common are I. coronillcefolia and I floribunda. 



Itea. — Of the five species of this genus of Saxi- 

 fragece only one, I. Virginica, from the United 

 States, is worthy of special mention. It is a pretty, 

 autumn-flowering, deciduous shrub, with Willow- 

 like leaves, and innumerable, erect, simple racemes 

 of small white flowers. It only attains a height 

 of from three to six feet, and thrives best in a damp 

 peat border. 



