THE HOLLY. 
87 
of an inch across, with four petals and four stamens or stigmas. 
Sometimes flowers with stamens are produced by the same tree 
that bears flowers with stigmas ; but often the male and the female 
flowers are borne by separate trees, so that the possessor of a 
Holly that is solely male is sometimes puzzled by the fact that 
his tree, though covered with blossom, never produces a berry. 
The fruit is analogous in structure to that of the Plum and 
Cherry, and is technically termed a drupe j but instead of the 
single stone of these fruits, in the Holly-berry there are four 
bony little stones, each with its contained seed. The berries 
ripen about September, and are then scarlet and glossy, though 
here and there one finds a tree whose fruit never gets beyond 
the yellow stage of coloration. 
Most parts of the tree have had their uses in medicine ; the 
leaves, for example, being said to have value as a febrifuge, and 
the berries as a purgative, or in large doses (6 to 8) as an 
emetic. The smooth bark of large Hollies is often attacked 
by one of the most striking of our native lichens — Graphis 
elegans — whose black fruiting portions look like a raised cunei- 
form inscription. The Holly is not greatly subject to the attacks 
of insects, but many of its leaves will be found to have been 
tunnelled between the upper and lower skins by the larva of a 
minute moth, one of the Leaf-miners. It also provides the 
pabulum for the caterpillar of the Holly-blue butterfly {Lyccefia 
argioliis). The dead leaves may be examined for the minute 
Prickly Snail {Helix aadeatd). 
The wood of the Holly has an exceedingly fine grain, due to 
its slow growth, and it is very hard and white. These qualities 
make it valuable for many purposes, often as a substitute for 
Box-wood, and, when dyed black, in lieu of Ebony. 
Jl 
