PHILLYREA. 



OLEINEiE. DIANDRIA JfONOGYNIA. 



From Phyllyra, the mother of Chiron: from whom Ovid calls 

 him Phyllyrius. — French, filaria ; Italian, lillatro. 



There are several species of Phillyrea; natives of 

 the south of Europe ; they are evergreen shrubs, and 

 are frequently confounded with the alaternus, a shrub 

 belonging to a different family. They may be readily 

 distinguished by the situation of the leaves, which are 

 alternate in that plant, and opposite in the Phillyrea. 



It is chiefly the Broad-leaved, Phillyrea latjfoUa, 

 which is confused with the alaternus; and as manv 

 gardeners call the latter shrub by the name of Phillyrea, 

 for the sake of distinction the former is styled the True 

 Phillyrea. It is a hardy shrub ; Evelyn says as hardy 

 as the holly itself. It will sometimes grow as high as 

 twenty feet. 



The name of this shrub seems to have been a fa- 

 vourite with gardeners and botanists. It has been ob- 

 served that some insist on bestowing it upon the alater- 

 nus ; it also extends to a species of the cassine. Cow- 

 ley speaks of the evergreen privet by the same title; 

 and Philyra was formerly the appellation of the lime- 

 tree. 



