Tree. — Flowers in May. 
A handsome evergreen tree, growing to the height of from 20 to 
30 feet in a wild state, and to twice that height in a state of culti- 
vation. Bark smooth, greyish. Wood hard and close-grained. 
Leaves alternate, stalked, rigid, surrounded by a strong cartilagin- 
ous border; tough, shining, wavy, lobed, each lobe terminating in 
a strong, sharp thorn; sometimes in old trees the upper leaves are 
entire, with only a terminal prickle. Flowers small, white, tinged 
externally with purple, somewhat umbellate, usually three together, 
from the axils of the leaves, the earliar ones least perfect. Calyx 
slightly hairy, very small. Berries bright scarlet, casually yellow, 
crowned with the calyx, which turns black. Nuts, ( seeds of Linn.,/ 
(see figs. 5, 6, & 7.) three or four. 
Numerous varieties of this tree are cultivated in gardens, and 
that with yellow berries has been found wild in England. They 
are all highly ornamental in clumps, borders, and other parts of 
pleasure-grounds, affording much variety when judiciously inter- 
mixed. 
The Holly makes an impenetrable fence, and bears cropping well ; nor is its 
verdure, or the beauty of its scarlet berries, ever observed to suffer from the severest 
of our winters. It would be preferable to the hawthorn for hedges, were it not for 
the slowness of its growth. The wood is the whitest of all hard woods, and is use- 
ful for various purposes. It is used in veneering, in turnery, in engineering, iu 
mathematical-instrument making, and even for wood engraving ; but one of its 
principal uses, at present, is, when dyed black, to be substituted for ebony, in the 
handles of metal tea-pots, &c. The strongest straight shoots, deprived of their 
bark, are made into whip-handles and walking-sticks ; and the young shoots and 
the branches are given to sheep and deer, during the winter, in France. From the 
bark birdlime is made. The berries are purgative, and six or eight of them will 
occasion violent vomiting. Though they are considered as poisonous to men, yet 
they form the food of some birds, mure especially of thrushes. The use of the 
Holly at Christmas for ornamenting churches and dwelling-houses, is well known ; 
though the origin of the practice is uncertain. 
The disciples of Zoroaster believed that the sun never shadows the Holly-tree ; 
and the followers of that Philosopher, who still remain in Persia and India, are said 
to throw water impregnated with Holly bark in the face of a child newly born. 
In The Language of Flowers, the Holly signifies foresight. It is the badge of 
the clan Drummond in Scotland. 
For many interesting par ticulars respecting the Geography, History, Proper- 
ties and Uses; Mythological, Legendary, and Poetical Allusions ; Propa- 
gation and Culture ; Statistics, §c. of the Holly, see Mr. Loudon’s admirable 
work, The Arboretum et Fruticctum Britunnicum, pp. 505 to 51G. 
Two very beautiful Lichens, Opegrapha e'legans. Hook. Br. FI. v. ii. p. 146 ; 
and Thelotrema lepaclinum, ibid. p. 161 ; are not uncommon on the bark of the 
Holly In Bagley Wood, near Oxford ; and Eustegia Ilicis ; Ceuthhspora phas- 
cidioides ; arid Sphccria ilicis ; are common on the dead leaves. 
The Natural Order Aquifolta'cete, is composed of dicotyledon- 
ous trees or shrubs, with alternate or opposite, coriaceous leaves ; 
and small, axillary, solitary, or faciculated flowers. The calyx is 
4-, 5-, or 6-sepaled, and imbricated in the bud. The corolla is 
hypogynous, and 4- or 5-parted, with as many .stamens inserted into 
it, alternately with its segments. The ovary is from 2- to 6-celled, 
with a pendulous ovule in each cell. The fruit is fleshy, indehis- 
cent, with from 2 to 6 stones or nuts, each containing a pendulous 
seed, which has a large fleshy albumen. 
