The TOUKG HATUBAMST : 



A Monthly Magazine of Natural History. 



Paet 49. DECEMBEfi, 1883. Vol. 5. 



THE HOLLY 



(Ilex aquifolium). 



By J. P. Soutter, Bishop Auckland. 



ii HHHOU art a cheerful wight, my hardy 

 friend, 



For thou canst laugh at the rude ruffian 

 wind, 



And brave the pelting storm ; thou know'st 

 no change, 



Though seasons alter and though years de- 

 cline, 



But in the darkest day, the coldest hour, 

 Art gay and verdant still. The muffling 

 snow 



Falls not on thy bare brow, the crisped ice 

 Gems not thy naked branches ; but thou 

 stand'st 



Amid thy shivering mates with gladsome air, 

 With coral-wreathed brow and emerald 

 vest." 



Of the various trees and shrubs 

 which adorn our woods and hedgerows, 

 there is no one hath a more distinct 

 individuality than the holly. Every- 

 body knows and recognizes it at once, 

 even the starved and stunted street 

 Arab of our large cities, whose pale 

 and puny face has never peered amongst 

 its dense tangled branches for a bird's 

 nest, or watched the eager thrush and 

 querulous blackbird devouring its 

 tempting fruit in winter • yet he is fami- 

 liar with its burnished green leaves and 



vivid vermilion berries as they are 

 hawked about the streets at Christmas. 



The old maxim that every tree is 

 known by its fruit is well exemplified 

 in the holly, which is unexcelled 

 amongst our native plants for the 

 brilliant colouring of its fruits, al- 

 though it is closely rivalled by the 

 scarlet corymbs of the mountain ash. 

 But the great charm of the holly is 

 the harmonious contrast of its verdant 

 foliage and the persistence of its ber- 

 ries, which, except they are eaten up 

 by frugivorous fieldfares, cling in cor- 

 nelian clusters to the branches till 

 winter is well-nigh past. An equal 

 permanency is exhibited by the orange 

 berries of the sea buckthorn (Hippo- 

 pkae rJiamnoides) , but it is so local as 

 to be unknown to the general public. 

 Although most people know that before 

 berries can be produced there must 

 have been a previous period of flower- 

 ing, yet comparatively few have noticed 

 the flowers of the holly, which, however, 

 appear in May and June : they are 

 small, creamy white, with the parts in 

 fours. It is only recently that the 

 holly was suspected of being dioecious, 

 and Darwin's accurate observations 



