264 TETRANDRIA. TETRAGYNIA* * Ilex. 
TETRAGYNIA. 
FLEX. Stamens and pistils variously disposed: Calyx four¬ 
toothed : Bloss . monopetalous, wheel-shaped: Style 
none : Berry four-seeded. 
I. aquifo'lium. Leaves egg-shaped, acute, spinous, wavy, on leaf¬ 
stalks : flowers in a cluster, axillary. 
( E. Bot. 496. E.)— Kniph. 11 —FI. Dan. 508— Mill 4 6—Hunt. Evel. 383. 
i. p. 362. ed. ii— Blackw. 20 5— Nat. Displ. ii. 9. A. at p. 71— Dod. 658— 
Matth. 161— Jonst. 63. 6— Ger. 1155— Lob. Ohs. 582. 1— Ger. Em. 1338 
Wale _ Munt. 164. 38 —Trag. 1067— Park. 1487. 1. 
(Usually a small tree, with smooth, greyish bark; sometimes attaining to 
thirty feet in height. E.) Leaves rigid, surrounded by a strong cartila¬ 
ginous border ; tough, shining, evergreen ; frequently indented, and each 
tooth terminating in a strong, sharp thorn, (except sometimes in very aged 
plants. E.) The leaves upon the same tree are some of them entire, 
(especially the uppermost; E.) and others thorny. Flowers small, 
greenish white, tinged externally with purple, lateral, on short fruit- 
stalks, generally three together, springing from a sort of scale upon the 
branch. Berries numerous, scarlet, crowned with the cup, which turns 
black. Seeds three or four. I have found it in flower so late as the 
second week in June, and then all the Jlowers had four stamens and four 
pistils. 
Holly Tree. (Holme. Irish: Callin. Welsh: Celynen. Gaelic: An 
cuillfhionn. E.) Woods, hedges, heaths. On the north side of the 
W/ekin, in Shropshire, the trees grow to a large size; (also in Needwood 
Forest, and other like situations. E.) T. May.* 
Var. 2. Aquifol. haccis luteis } S$c. Ray Syn. 466. Berries yellow. 
insect. The leaves also often form a receptacle for the Puccinia Bu.vi, which, though 
to the naked eye appearing but an insignificant spot, under the microscope exhibits a struc¬ 
ture truly admirable ; as is well displayed in Grev. Scot. Crypt. 17, and therein thus 
characterized : “ P. scattered, reddish brown, round, convex, surrounded by the ruptured 
epidermis ; sporidia oblong, two-celled, yellow, with a long filiform stem.” E.) 
* All the varieties which gardeners reckon, to the amount of forty or fifty, are derived 
from this one species, and depend upon the variegations of the leaves or thorns, and the 
colour of the berries. (One remarkable variety produced by culture, called the hedge-hog , 
is spinous on the disk of the foliage : the gold and the silver-edged are peculiarly elegant. 
E.) Sheep are fed in the winter with the croppings. Penn. Tour, 1772, p. 32 ; as 
also deer. Birds eat the berries. The bark fermented and afterwards washed from the 
woody fibres, makes the common birdlime. Holly makes an impenetrable fence, and bears 
cropping; 
(“A hedge of Holly , thieves that would invade, 
Repulses like a growing palisade.” Cowley. E.) 
Nor is its verdure, or the beauty of its berries, ever observed to suffer from the severest of 
our winters. 
(-Mala furta hominum densis mucronibus arcens 
Securum defendit inexpugnabilis hortum, 
Exornatque simul, toto spectabilis anno, 
Et numero et viridi foliorum luce nitentfim.” Coulcii, lib. vi. E.) 
The wood is used in veneering; and is sometimes stained black to imitate ebony. Handles 
