BULLETIN NO. 35. 
At this season one meets in Tokyo many venders with bunches of 
leafless branches of a native Holly covered with small red berries, but 
in this country fruit-covered branches of hardy trees and shrubs are 
as yet little appreciated for the decoration of houses, although the 
branches of several of our plants are admirably suited to the purpose. 
The fruits of many of these retain their beauty for a long time and 
such decorations are much more economical than those made by the 
short-lived forced flowers of late autumn and early winter. The 
branches of the evergreen Holly of the southern states, Ilex opaca , 
however, are much used at Christmas, and occasionally branches of 
Ilex verticillata can be seen here in the windows of enterprising florists. 
The Holly sold in the streets of Tokyo is Ilex serrata, and the fruit 
is smaller and less bright-colored than that of the American represen- 
tatives of this plant, the so-called Black Alders of New England 
swamps. There are two of these, Rex verticillata and I. laevigata; 
the former is the more common plant, but the latter is showier as the 
fruit is larger and brighter-colored. These plants are easily cultivated 
and grow rapidly in ordinary . garden soil into round-headed shrubs 
sometimes eight or ten feet across. There are forms of them both 
with yellow fruit, a yellow-fruited form of I. laevigata (var. Herveyi) 
having been found a few years ago near New Bedford; it is not yet in 
cultivation. Two Hollies from the southern states with deciduous leaves 
and red fruits, Ilex decidua and I. monticola, are cultivated in the 
Arboretum; but although their fruit is larger, they are less decorative 
in this climate than the native species. Rex opaca ought to be more 
generally cultivated here as the more beautiful English Holly, I. Aqui- 
folium, is not hardy in New England. The American species is espec- 
ially valuable as it is the only broad-leaved evergreen tree which is 
hardy in this latitude. This Holly grows naturally on the coast near 
Quincy in this state, and then ranges southward to Texas, in some 
parts of the country becoming a large and common tree. There is 
also a form of this tree with yellow fruit. The Ink Berry (Rex glabra) 
a black-fruited Holly, is one of the handsomest of the broad-leaved 
evergreen shrubs which are hardy in New England. The branches of 
this plant are valuable for house decoration, for the leaves do not fall 
and the fruit retains its color and freshness for a long time after the 
branches are cut. 
Another good plant for house decoration is the common European 
Privet, Ligustrum vulgare, which is a perfectly hardy shrub or small 
tree formerly much used in this country as a hedge plant and now 
occasionally naturalized in the eastern states; this is one of the Euro- 
pean plants which retains its leaves late in the autumn without change 
of color, and these make a handsome contrast with the terminal clus- 
ters of shining black fruits. Many species of Privet have been intro- 
duced in recent years into our gardens from eastern Asia but none of 
them are as desirable garden plants in this climate as this old-fashioned 
European shrub which might well be grown for the value of its fruit- 
bearing branches in house decoration. 
