350 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
Garden Plants, — Their Geography. XII. 
8. OLACALES. 
THE OLAX, ILEX. AND CLIFTONIA ALLIANCE. 
There are 6 tribes, 70 genera, and 465 species 
in this alliance. They are for the most part tropi- 
cal trees and shrubs and with a few exceptions 
evergreens. Their fine foliage, and brilliant 
scarlet, yellow or black berries is their chief at- 
traction in gardens. 
Olax has 30 species distributed in the tropical 
parts of Asia, Africa and Australia, and one or two 
climbers are in gardens. 
Ilex has 175 species distributed over the world, 
several are found in the temperate regions, and they 
have in some instances differentiated into such a 
large number of varieties, and these are so \ery 
ornamental, that in England, Ireland, and other 
mild parts of Europe they are one ot the most high- 
ly prized features of the gardens. The Ilex aqui- 
folia is one of the few evergreens natives to the 
British Isles, and the varieties with silver and gold- 
en variegation and those with peculiarities in foliage, 
either on the side of greater or less spinosity, are 
found in all good nurseries. The common- 
er kinds make superb hedges. In the southern 
states from New Jersey to Florida a species exists 
almost identical in appearance, and it is a strange 
commentary on the Americans that they have not 
yet found a way to utilize it. It was not without 
great persuasion that anyone could be induced to 
ship holly and mistletoe to New York for Christ- 
mas in 1875, but it 
has now grown to be 
quite a trade. There 
is not yet so far as I 
know a holly hedge in 
the U. S. , the nursery- 
men have not found a 
sure way to grow them. 
They need cutting 
back freely, when they 
grow well enough. I 
have had them grow 
planted in November, 
but they are even 
more sure in late May. 
The largest English 
trees are probably to 
be found in the New 
Forest of Hampshire, 
and there are magni 
ficent examples at Noc- 
ton Hall, Lincoln- 
shire, one of the seats of the Earl De Grey and 
Ripon, and in many other places. 
The English Holly I. aquifolia in one or two 
ILEX AQUIFOLIA. 
ILEX OPAC.A.; (Foem and Mas.) The American Holly. 
I'rom Ga7'de7iine^. 
varieties exists in fine trees in the Smithsonian 
grounds at Washington and southwards to the 
Carolinas. Further north they should be planted 
close to the north side of buildings, as shown in the 
illustration of one at Girard College, Philadelphia. 
(See Park and Cemetery, Dec., 1895, page, 174) 
I. a. laurifolia is reputed most hardy, having 
stood several winters north of New York. Of other 
evergreens the native “ink berry,” I. glabra, is the 
most reliable north, although I. cornuta has been 
tried with fair promise. I. opaca, as previously 
mentioned, makes a superb evergreen tree from 
Sandy Hook, N. J., southwards, and is hardy in 
New England. Prof. Smock of the N. J. Geologi- 
cal Survey informs me that at 5 rnile beach, N. J., 
this species has crept close down to the shore. Ber- 
ry-bearing plants are kept in stock by the Parsons 
of Flushing who take pains to graft them, and it is 
necessary to obtain such stock, as the wild plants 
may be ot the male variety, and of course berries 
are out of the question with them. There is 2, pair 
at Trenton as fine as those in the engraving, the 
female plant bearing abundantly every year. I. 
cassine and I. Dahoon are fine southern species, 
then there are a number of deciduous shrubby kinds 
hardy at the north such as I. montana, I. verticil- 
lata, I. laevigata, the Japanese Sieboldi, said to be 
everygreen at home, and some others. There are 
17 or 18 forms indigenous to the various parts of 
the United States. Othera japonica is the provis- 
ional name of a shrub of this affinity whose seeds 
had not been seen at the time of publication of the 
Genera Plantarum; it is in cultivation however. 
