THE HOLLY. 



55 



m 



quently see it deepening the gloom of a forest, 

 where it is rarely visited by even a few strag- 

 gling sunbeams, and where the only 

 moisture which bathes its leaves is de- 

 rived from the superfluous rain which 

 has dripped from the overshadowing 

 foliage of its more elevated comrades. 

 When planted among trees which are 

 not more rapid in growth than itself, 

 it is sometimes drawn up to a height 

 of fifty feet or more. In Wistman's 

 Wood, Dartmoor, (described in volume 

 i. page 14,) there stands among the 

 stunted Oaks, which have been unable 

 to make head against the sweeping 

 moorland blast, a single Holly which 

 overtops by many feet every tree in the 

 wood; but these are rare instances. 

 More frequently it is contented with 

 the humble elevation of thirty feet> 

 or even less, sometimes forming a per- 

 fect pyramid, leafy to the base, at 

 other times sending up a clean stem 

 furnished with a bushy head. The 

 bark is of a remarkably light hue, 

 and is very liable to be invested with 

 an exceedingly thin lichen,* the fruc- 

 tification of which consists of numer- 

 ous curved black lines closely resem- 

 bling oriental writing. The leaves are 

 thick, tough, and glossy, and edged 

 with stout prickles, of which the ter- ^^^^^^-'^^'^^ 



• SCRIPTA. 



minal one only is invariably in the 



same plane with the leaf. In May, the Holly 



* Opegraplia scripta. 



