2 



AQUIFOLIACEiE. 



Ilex. 



1. ILEX. Linn.; Endl. gen. 5705. holly. 



[ Etymology uncertain.] 



Flowers mostly perfect. Calyx 4 - 5-toothed, persistent. Corolla 4 - 5-parted nearly to the 

 base, rotate. Stamens 4-5. Ovary 4 - 5-celled : stigmas as many as the cells, nearly 

 sessile, distinct or united. Fruit with 4 or 5 bony ribbed or veined nucules. Embryo very 

 minute, nearly globose. — Evergreen (sometimes deciduous) shrubs or small trees. Leaves 

 usually coriaceous, entire, toothed, or with spiny teeth. Peduncles many-flowered. 



1. Ilex opaca, Ait. American Holly. 



Leaves ovate, coriaceous, acute, flat, sharply spinose-toothed, smooth ; flowers scattered at 

 the base of the young branches. — Ait. Keiv. (ed. 1.) 1. p. Ill ; Michx. fl. 1. p. 228, and 

 f. sylv. 2. t. 84 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 117; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 62 ; Ell. sk. 2. p. 679 ; Torr. 

 fl. 1, p. 194 ; DC. prodr. 2. p. 14; Beck, hot. p. 230; Hook. fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 121 ; 

 Darling-t. fi. Cest. p. 114. I. Aquifolium, Walt. fl. Car. p. 241. 



A tree 10-30 feet high, with spreading branches and smooth light gray bark ; the trunk 

 sometimes nearly a foot in diameter. Leaves about two inches long, thick and tough, nearly 

 plane, somewhat shining, bright and deep green above, yellowish green underneath. Flowers 

 solitary or in small loose fascicles ; the pedicels with minute bracts at the base. Calyx small ; 

 the segments ovate, acuminate, ciliolate. Corolla yellowish white ; the segments (or nearly 

 distinct petals) usually 4 but sometimes 5 or 6, oblong, obtuse. Stamens shorter than the 

 corolla : anthers oblong. Stigmas mostly 4, small, connivent. Drupes about the size of a 

 large pea, nearly spherical, bright red, persistent. 



Sandy soils. On the north side of Long Island, and on the hills near Kingsbridge, Island 

 of New-York. Fl. June. Fr. September. This species is very closely allied to the European 

 Holly, and possesses similar properties. The copious alburnum is white, and the heart brown. 

 The grain is fine and compact. Cabinet-makers sometimes use the wood, which is very 

 brilliant when polished. Of the inner bark, the material called birdlime is prepared. The 

 berries are purgative and emetic, but are seldom employed medicinally. 



2. Ilex ambiguus. Ambiguous Ilex. 



Leaves deciduous, ovate, acuminate, obtuse or acute at the base, thin, smooth, serrate ; 

 flowers tetramerous, on short pedicels, aggregated at the extremity of short lateral branches. — 

 Prinos ambiguus, Michx. fl. 2. p. 23 ? not of Ell. or Nutt. 



A shrub about six feet high ; the younger branches marked with numerous closely ap- 

 proximated scales of fallen petioles. Leaves clustered at the extremity of the branches, 

 2 - 3 1 inches long and often two inches wide, very thin and membranaceous, acute, obtuse or 

 sometimes cordate at the base, perfectly smooth on both sides ; the serratures acuminate and 

 appressed : petioles 5-8 lines long. Flowers polygamous, 3 - 5 at the extremity of each 



