I L 
In the mean time, the clafs polygamia itfelf feems to be 
vanifhing from the fyftem. 
The common holly grows wild in many parts of Eu¬ 
rope, in North America, Japan, Cochin-china, &c. It is 
found in woods and fprefts in many parts of England. 
It grows fo fpontaneoufly, fays Mr. Evelyn, in this part 
of Surrey, that the large vale near my own dwelling was 
anciently called Holmejclale ; in Dungenefs in Kent, it 
grows naturally among the pebbles upon the very beach. 
Dr. Withering fays, that on the north fide of the Wrekin, 
in Shropfhire, the trees grow to a large fize. The holly 
is very common in the Chiltern divilion of Buckingham- 
Ihire, and where permitted has a confiderable growth. 
Mr. Bradley tells us, that he has feen it above fixty feet 
high in the Holly-walk, near Frenfham in Surrey. The 
holly is called alfo in Englifh hulver and holme ; it is known ' 
by the name of hulver in Norfolk. In German, it has a 
great variety of appellations ; in French, houx, grand houf- 
fon, agron, grand pardon, hois franc ; in Italian, agrifoglio, 
a/loro fpinojo-, in Spanifli and Portuguefe, agrifolio, acrifo- 
lio, aquifolio. 
Holly makes an impenetrable fence, and bears crop¬ 
ping well ; nor is its verdure, or the beauty of its fcarlet 
berries, ever obferved to fuffer from the fievereft of our 
winters. It would claim the preference for this purpofe 
even to the hawthorn, (Cratrcgus,) were it not for the 
flownefs of its growth whillt young, and the difficulty of 
tranfplanting it when grown to a moderate fize. But, 
when it once takes well, the hedge may be rendered fo 
clofe and thick as to keep out all forts of animals. Mr. 
Evelyn’s impregnable holly-hedge, four hundred feet in 
length, nine feet high, and five in diameter, has been 
much celebrated by himfelf, Ray, and others. It does 
belt in cold ftony lands, according to Dr. Hunter ; it cer¬ 
tainly profpers on gravel over chalk. It refufes not, fays 
Mr. Boutcher, the pooreft hot fandy gravelly and rocky 
ground, nor the coldeft clay. Mr. Marftall relates, that 
in the Wolds of Yorkshire, he has feen the holly raifed 
(by the practice of a man who has paid great attention 
to the bufinefs of hedge-planting) with an unufual de¬ 
gree of rapidity and certainty. This man’s fecret would 
be of ineftimable value to the public. The common hol¬ 
ly, being a very beautiful tree in winter, deferves a place 
in all plantations of evergreen trees and flirubs, where its 
fliining leaves and fcarlet berries make a fine variety ; and, 
if a few of the belt variegated forts are properly inter¬ 
mixed, they will enliven the fcene. The wood of this 
tree, fays Mr. Evelyn, is the whiteft of all hard woods, 
and ufed by the inlayer, efpecially under thin plates of 
ivory. The mill-wright, turner, and engraver, prefer it 
to any other. It makes the bell handles and flocks for 
tools, flails, the bell riding-rods, and carters’ whips; 
bowls, chivers, and pins for blocks; alfo it excels for 
door-bars and bolts. Mr. Miller adds, that it is made 
into hones for fetting razors; that the wood, taking a 
fine poliffi, is very proper for leveral kinds of furniture; 
and that he had feen the floor of a room laid in compart¬ 
ments with this and mahogany, which had a very pretty 
effefl. It is much ufed with box, yew, white-thorn, See. 
in the fmall trinkets and other works, carried on in and. 
about Tunbridge, and commonly called Tunbridge-warc. 
The wood, fays Dr. Withering, is ufed in fineering, and 
is fometimes itained black to imitate ebony. Sheep and 
deer are fed during winter with the croppings ; birds 
eat the berries ; the bark fermented, and afterwards walhed 
from the woody fibres, makes the common birdlime. 
Forty or fifty varieties, depending on the variegations 
of the leaves or thorns, and the colour of the berries, all 
derived from this one fpecies, are raifed by the nurfiery- 
gardeners for fale, and formerly were in very great elteem, 
but are now lefs regarded, fince the old talle of filling 
gardens with fliort evergreens has been laid afide ; a few, 
however, of the mod lively varieties fliould be admitted 
in plantations, and will have a good effect in the winter 
E X. 839 
feafon, if they are properly difpofed. Of thofe varieties, 
the I. ferox, or hedge-hog holly, is the mod remarkable. 
Mr. Miller will have it to be a diftindl fpecies ; and fays, 
that the leaves are not fo long-as thofe of the common 
holly, and have the edges ■armed with ttronger thorns. 
Handing clofer together ; the upper furface let very clofe, 
with fliort prickles. It grows naturally in Canada ; and, 
keeping its difference when raifed from the berries, Mr. 
Miller makes no doubt of its being a diftimft fpecies ; 
he calls it I. echinatum, and, there are tw'o varieties of 
it with variegated leaves, one green and yellow, and the 
other green and white : fee a leaf of the former variety 
on the Botany Plate. V. fig. 31. vol. iii. p. 243. Hedge¬ 
hog holly was. cultivated in the garden of Compton bi- 
fliop of London at Fulham, by that ingenious and fkilful 
gardener Mr. George London, who is fuppofed to have 
introduced it firfl from France. 
2. Ilex opaca, or Carolina holly : leaves ovate, acute, 
fpiny, fmooth, flat; flowers fcattered at the bafe of the 
laft-year’s flioots. Native of Carolina; flowers in May 
and June. 
3. Ilex perado, or thick-leaved fmooth holly : leaves 
ovate, with a point; unarmed ; almoft entire. Native of 
Madeira; flowers in April and May. 
4. Ilex prinoides, or deciduous holly : leaves elliptic- 
lanceolate, acute, deciduous, ferrate; ferratures without 
prickles. Native of Carolina and Virginia ; flowers in 
July. 
5. Ilex caffine, or dahoon holly: leaves alternate, dis¬ 
tant, evergreen, lanceolate, ferrate ; ferratures acumi¬ 
nate, The dahoon holly rifes with an upright branch¬ 
ing Item to the height of eighteen or twenty feet; the 
bark of the old Items is of a brown colour, but that 
of the younger Hems or branches is green and fmooth. 
Leaves more than four inches long, and one and a 
quarter broad in the broadefl part, of a light green and 
thick confidence ; the upper .part is ferrate, each ferra- 
ture ending in a fmall fliarp fpine ; they Hand alternately 
on every fide of the branches, on very fhort foot-ftalks. 
The flowers come out in thick clufters from the fide of 
the ftalks ; they are white, and ffiaped like thofe of the 
common holly, but fmaller. Both the female and herma¬ 
phrodite flowers are fucceeded by fmall roundifli berries, 
making a fine appearance in winter; but they have not 
as yet produced fruit in England. Native of Florida and 
Carolina, whence the feeds were fent about the year 1726 
by Mr. Mark Catefby, who found the trees' growing on a 
fwamp at a diftance from Charles-town. There are two 
varieties of the dahoon holly; one with broader leaves, 
the other with narrower leaves, with lcarcely any ferratures. 
6. Ilex vomitoria, or South-fea tea, or evergreen caffine: 
leaves alternate, diftant, oblong, bluntifh, crcnate-ferrate ; 
ferratures without prickles. South-fea tea, or evergreen 
caffine, rifes to the height of ten or twelve feet, fending out 
branches from the ground upwards, which form themfelves 
into a fort of pyramid. Leaves about the fize,ffiape, tex¬ 
ture, and colour, of the finall-leaved alaternus, but foine- 
what fliorter, and a little broader at the bale. See Bota¬ 
ny Plate V. fig. 60. vol. iii. p. 244. The flowers are pro¬ 
duced in clofe‘whorls at the joints of the branches, near 
the foot-flalks of the leaves: they, are white, and are fuc¬ 
ceeded by red berries, which continue upon the plants 
moil part of the winter, and, being of a bright red colour, 
make a fine appearance, intermixed with the green leaves. 
From their continuing fo long untouched by birds, in a< 
country where thefie animals are fo numerous, we may 
conclude that they have fotne venomous quality in them. 
Native of Welt Florida : Mr. Miller fays, Carolina, and 
fome of the warm parts of Virginia, chiefly near the fea. 
It was cultivated here in 1700;' and preferved in feveral 
curious gardens near London, till the levere winter 1739, 
when moil of them were deltroyed. But fince that many 
young plants have been raifed from feeds, and have re~ 
lifted the cold of our winters without covering ; though 
