270 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. our Holly, spontaneously growing here in this part of Surrey, that the 

 "^^'^^ large vale near my own dwelling was anciently called Holmes-Dale, 

 famous for the flight of the Danes : The inhabitants (of great anti- 

 quity in their manners, habits, and speech) have a proverb. Holmes- 



side of the branches, and from the base of their foot-stalks the flowers come out in 

 clusters, standing on very short foot-stalks; each of these sustains five, six, or more 

 flowers. These flowers are of a dirty white, and appear in May ; they are succeeded 

 by roundish berries, which turn to a beautiful red about Michaelmas, and continue on the 

 trees till after Christmas. Of the common holly there are several varieties with variegated 

 leaves, which are propagated by the nursery-gardeners for sale, but at present are little 

 regarded, the old taste of filling gardens with shorn evergreens being entirely abolished ; 

 however, in the disposition of the clumps or other plantations of evergreen trees and shrubs, 

 a few of the most lively colours may be admitted, which will have a good effect in the winter 

 season, if they are properly disposed. As the different variegations of the leaves of Hollies, 

 are by the nursery-gardeners distinguished by different titles, I shall here mention the most 

 beautiful of them by their common names. 

 Fair Phillis. Chohole. Milkmaid. Chimney-sweeper. Glory of the East. Glory of the 

 West. Painted Lady. Fuller's Cream Holly. Broderick's Holly. Cheney's Holly, Par- 

 tridge's Holly. Wise's Holly. Ellis's Holly. Gray's Holly. Longstaff's Holly. Brad- 

 ley's Best Holly. Blotched Yellow-berried Holly. Mason's Copper-coloured Holly.— 

 Bench's Ninepenny Holly. Pritchet's Holly. Blind's Cream Holly. Sir Thomas Frank- 

 land's Holly. Britain's Holly. Bradley's long-leaved Holly. Whitmell's Holly. Brad- 

 ley's Yellow Holly. Bridgman's Holly. Wells's Holly. Glass's Holly. Bagshot's Holly. 

 Brownrig's Holly. Hertfordshire White Holly. Common Blotched Holly. Yellow 

 Blotched Hedge-Hog Holly. Silver Hedge-Hog Holly. Langton Holly. 



2. ILEX fcAROLiNiANAj foliis ovato-lanceolatis serratis. Lift. Sp. PI. 181. Holly with 

 oval, spear-shaped, sawed leaves. Aquifolium Caroliniense, foliis dentatis, baccis rubris.— 

 Catesb. Carol. I. p. 31. Carolina Holly with indented leaves and red berries. Commonly 

 called Dahoon Holly. 



This species of Holly grows naturally in Carolina, from whence the seeds were sent by the late 

 Mr. Mark Catesby, who found the trees growing on a swamp at a distance from Charles- 

 town, but it hath since been discovered in some other parts in North-America. This rises 

 with an upright branching stem to the height of eighteen or twenty feet ; the bark of the 

 old stem is of a brown colour, but that of the branches, or younger stalks, is green and 

 smooth, garnished with spear-shaped leaves, which are more than four inches long, and 

 one and a quarter broad in the broadest part, of a light green and thick consistence ; the 

 upper part of the leaves are sawed on their edges, each serrature ending in a small sharp 

 spine ; they stand alternately on every side of the branches, upon very short foot-stalks. The 

 flowers come out in thick clusters from the side of the stalks ; they are white, and shaped 

 like those of the common Holly, but are smaller ; the female and hermaphrodite flowers are 

 succeeded by small roundish berries in its native country, which makes a fine appearance 

 in winter, but they have not as yet produced fruit in England. This plant is tender, and 

 requires a warm exposure. 



