POEEST TREES. 



157 



Hypelate panicnlata, — Maderia Wood, Honey-berry, Genip-tree. 



—Leaves abruptly pinnate, leaflets oblong, entire, two to three 

 inches long, smooth, deep-green above, and pale beneath. 

 Fruit round, of a green color, pulp sub-acid, astringent or sweet- 

 ish when fully ripe. This is the Melicocca paniculata of Jussieu. 

 A small tree in Southern Florida, and the West Indies. Wood 

 hard and flexible, used for bows and spears. 



H. trifoliata. — Three- leaved Genip-trce. — Leaves trifoliate ; 

 leaflets obovate, rather thick, and of a leathery appearance on 

 the upper surface. Flowers small, white, in a short panicle or 

 cluster, only a few in number. Fruit black and only one- 

 seeded. A small tree with brittle branches. Southern Florida 

 and the West Indies. 



ILEX, Linn. — Holly, 



Avery extensive genus of small trees and shrubs, mostly with 

 thick and rigid evergreen leaves, smaU white flowers and red 

 berry-like fruit. Hollies are to be found in nearly all parts of 

 the world, but mainly in temperate climates, but most highly 

 prized as ornamental plants in Great Britain, where, from the 

 European Holly (Ilex AquifoUum), scores of elegant varieties 

 have been produced and extensively propagated. These European 

 varieties are not well adapted to our dry and hot climates, 

 and are seldom cultivated, except in conservatories, or in such 

 positions where they can bo protected in winter, and shaded 

 from the hot sun in summer. We have only two species that 

 grow to the size of trees. 



Ilex Dahoon, Nutt. — Dahoon Holly. — Leaves acute or obtuse, 

 serrate, or toothed with sharp points, young branches and lower 

 surface of the leaves more or less pubescent. There are several 

 well-marked wild varieties. A small tree, with very hard 

 wood, sometimes twenty-five or thirty feet high. Virginia to 

 Florida and westward. 



I. opafa, Alton. — American Holly. — Leaves oval, concave, 

 wavy, and sharp spines on the margins. Flowers at the base 

 of the previous season's shoots, succeeded by bright red berries, 

 which remain on the tree all winter, and are much sought 

 after about the holidays for decorating churches and private 

 dwellings. A tree from twenty to forty feet high, wood very 

 hard. Found sparingly in Southern New England, Long Island, 

 New Jersey, and southward to Florida. One of our most 

 beautiful broad-leaved evergreen trees, scarcely hardy north of 



