CLIX.— THE HOLLY. 
Ilex Aquifolium Linne. 
T HE Order Sapindales, taking its name from the soapy seeds of some of its 
representatives, is, as understood by Engler, only a little less extensive than 
the nearly related Geraniales. It includes a large number of arborescent plants, 
mostly with polysymmetric flowers having a distinct calyx and corolla, comprising, 
according to him, among British Families, the Buxacece, Empetracece, Aquifoliacece, 
Celastracece, Aceracece, and Balsaminacece. The main characters that these have in 
common are those- of the ovule, which is either pendulous with a dorsal raphe and 
upward-facing micropyle, or ascending with a ventral raphe and micropyle facing 
downward. We have already dealt with the Buxacece; and the little Crowberry 
(Empetrum nigrum Linn6), with inrolled leaves and black edible berries, is not 
represented here. It differs from the Holly Family ( Aquifoliacece ) chiefly in having 
the parts of its flower in whorls of three, instead of in fours or fives. 
The Aquifoliacece comprises five genera and I 80 species of shrubs and trees with 
scattered, minutely stipulate, leathery, simple leaves, a cymose inflorescence, mostly 
dioecious flowers, and a drupaceous fruit containing several endocarps or one-seeded 
“ stones.” The Family is largely American ; but Ilex , the chief genus, which 
includes 170 species, is widely spread in Tropical and Temperate regions. 
No one has ever doubted the indigenous character of our British Holly ( Ilex 
Aquifolium Linnd). It forms a conspicuous portion of the undergrowth in all our 
most primitive forests. On the poor sandy soil of the old Kingswood, which we 
now know as the Bristol coalfield, it flourished so luxuriantly that the chatty Aubrey 
suggests that it derived benefit “from the effluvia of that mineral.” It was in 
Epping Forest that it excited the admiration of Peter Kalm, the pupil of Linnaeus, 
who visited England in 1748 ; and in the Forest of Dean ancient Hollies surround 
the Speech House, a meeting-place of great antiquity ; and, a century ago, oaths 
were sworn in the Verderer’s court there held on a bough of Holly, instead of on 
a Testament. It is stated that Holly will not grow more than a hundred miles from 
the sea, which may, perhaps, mean that, like the Cherry-laurel, it cannot withstand 
the “continental” severity of the winter in such places. 
There are, as might be expected, many allusions in English poetry to the bright 
green of the leaves and the crimson of the berries ; and many of the popular 
superstitions connected with this tree and the Christmas season are probably ancient 
and are, therefore, confirmatory evidence of the antiquity of the tree in the country. 
It is a slow-growing tree and produces a hard-grained, ivory-white wood, 
valued for turnery and inlaying and especially for staining. The “ ebonized ” 
handles of tea-pots are commonly made of this wood. 
The smooth, matt-silver bark of the stem, contrasting with the light green 
twigs and young leaves of spring, the dark glossy foliage of the later season, and 
