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HOLLY (Ilex Aquifolium)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 615 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HOLLY (Ilex Aquifolium) , the See also:European representative of a large genus of trees and shrubs of the natural See also:order Ilicineae, containing about 170 See also:species. The genus finds its See also:chief development in Central and See also:South See also:America; is well See also:developed in See also:Asia, especially the See also:Chinese-See also:Japanese See also:area, and has but few species in See also:Europe, See also:Africa and See also:Australia. In Europe, where I. Aquifolium is the See also:sole surviving species, the genus was richly represented during the See also:Miocene See also:period by forms at first South See also:American and See also:Asiatic, and later See also:North American in type (Schimper, Paleont. viget. iii. 204, 1874). The leaves are generally leathery and See also:evergreen, and are alternate and stalked; the See also:flowers are commonly dioecious, are in axillary cymes, fascicles or umbellules, and have a persistent four- to five-lobed calyx, a See also:white, rotate four- or rarely five- or six-cleft corolla, with the four or five stamens adherent to its See also:base in the male, sometimes hypogynous in the See also:female flowers, and a two- to twelve-celled ovary; the See also:fruit is a globose, very seldom ovoid, and usually red drupe, containing two to sixteen one-seeded stones. The See also:common holly, or Hulver (apparently the Ki7XavTpos of See also:Theophrastus; 3 Ang.-See also:Sax. holen or holegn; See also:Mid. Eng. holyn or holin, whence holm and holmtree; 4 Welsh, celyn; Ger. Stechpalme, See also:Hulse, Hulst; O. Fr. houx; and Fr. houlx),5 I. A quifolium, is an evergreen See also:shrub or See also:low See also:tree, having smooth, ash-coloured bark, and wavy, pointed, smooth and glossy leaves, 2 to 3 in. See also:long, with a spinous margin, raised and cartilaginous below, or, as commonly on the upper branches of the older trees, entire 3 Hist. Plant. i.

9. 3, iii. 3. i, and 4. 6, et passim. On the aquifolium or aquifolia of Latin authors, commonly regarded as.- the holly, see A. de Grandsagne, Hist. Nat. de Pline, bk. xvi., " See also:

Note"s," pp. 199, 206. 4 The See also:term " holm," as indicative of a prevalence of holly, is stated to have entered into the names of several places in See also:Britain. From its'superficial resemblance to the holly, the tree Quercus Ilex, the evergreen See also:oak, received the appellation of " holm-oak." See also:Skeat (Etymolog. Dict., 1879) with reference to the word holly remarks: " The See also:form of the base Kul. (=See also:Teutonic Hun) is probably connected with See also:Lat. culmen, a See also:peak, culmus, a stalk; perhaps because the leaves are 'pointed.' " See also:Grimm (Deut. WOrterb.

Bd. iv.) suggests that the term Hulst, as the O.H.G. Hulis, applied to the See also:

butcher's See also:broom, or See also:knee-holly, in the earliest times used for hedges, may have reference to the holly as a protecting (hilllender) plant. —a peculiarity alluded to by See also:Southey in his poem The Holly Tree. The flowers, which appear in May, are ordinarily dioecious, as in all the best of the cultivated varieties in nurseries (See also:Gard. Chron., 1877, i. 149). See also:Darwin (See also:Duff. Forms of Flow., 1877, p. 297) says of the holly: " During several years I have examined many See also:plants, but have never found one that was really hermaphrodite." See also:Shirley Hibberd, however (Gard. Chron., 1877, ii. 777), mentions the occurrence of " flowers bearing globose anthers well furnished with See also:pollen, and also perfect ovaries. " In his See also:opinion, I.

Aquifolium changes its See also:

sex from male to female with See also:age. In the female flowers the stamens are destitute of pollen, though but slightly or not at all shorter than in the male flowers; the latter are more numerous than the female, and have a smaller ovary and a larger corolla, to which the filaments adhere for a greater length. The corolla in male plants falls off entire, whereas in fruit-bearers it is broken into See also:separate 1. See also:Flower with abortive stamens. 4. Fruit. 2. Flower with abortive See also:pistil. 5. Fruit cut transversely 3. Floral See also:diagram showing arrangement showing the four of parts in See also:horizontal See also:section. one-seeded stones.

segments by the swelling of the See also:

young ovary. The holly occurs in Britain, north-See also:east See also:Scotland excepted, and in western and See also:southern Europe, from as high as 62° N. lat. in See also:Norway to See also:Turkey and the See also:Caucasus and in western Asia. It is found generally in See also:forest glades or in hedges, and does not flourish under the shade of other trees. In See also:England it is usually small, probably on See also:account of its destruction for See also:timber, but it may attain to 6o or 70 ft, in height, and Loudon mentions one tree at See also:Claremont, in See also:Surrey, of 8o ft. Some of the trees on See also:Bleak See also:Hill, See also:Shropshire, are asserted to be 14 ft. in girth at some distance from the ground(N. and Q., 5th See also:ser., xii. 5o8). The holly is abundant in See also:France, especially in See also:Brittany. It will grow in almost any See also:soil not absolutely wet, but flourishes best in rather dry than moist sandy See also:loam. See also:Beckmann (Hist. of Invent., 1846, i. 193) says that the plant which first induced J. di See also:Castro to See also:search for See also:alum in See also:Italy was the holly, which is there still considered to indicate that its See also:habitat is aluminiferous. The holly is propagated by means of the seeds, which do not normally germinate until their second See also:year, by See also:whip-grafting and budding, and by cuttings of the matured summer shoots, which, placed in sandy soil and kept under See also:cover of a See also:hand-See also:glass in sheltered situations, generally strike See also:root in See also:spring. Transplantation should be performed in See also:damp See also:weather in See also:September and See also:October, or, according to some writers, in spring or on mild days in See also:winter, and care should be taken that the roots are not dried by exposure to the See also:air.

It is rarely injured by frosts in Britain, where its foliage and See also:

bright red berries in winter render it a valuable ornamental tree. The yield of berries has been noticed to be less when a warm spring, following on a wet winter See also:season, has promoted excess of growth. There are numerous varieties of the holly. Some trees have yellow, and others white or even See also:black fruit. In the fruitless variety laurifolia, " the most floriferous of all hollies " (Hibberd), the flowers are highly fragrant; the form known as femina is, on the other hand, remarkable for the number of its berries. The leaves in the unarmed varieties aureo-marginata and albomarginata are of See also:great beauty, and in ferox they are studded with See also:sharp prickles. The holly is of importance as a hedge-plant, and is patient of clipping, which is best performed by the See also:knife. See also:Evelyn's holly hedge at Say's See also:Court, See also:Deptford, was 400 ft. long, 9 ft. high and 5 ft. in breadth. To form fences, for which Evelyn recommends the employment of seedlings from See also:woods, the plants should be 9 to 12 in. in height, with plenty of small fibrous roots, and require to be set x to 11 ft. apart, in wellmanured and weeded ground and thoroughly watered. The See also:wood of the holly is even-grained and hard, especially when from the heartwood of large trees, and almost as white as See also:ivory, except near the centre of old trunks, where it is brownish. It is employed in See also:inlaying and turning, and, since it stains well, in the See also:place of See also:ebony, as for teapot handles. For See also:engraving it is inferior to See also:box.

When dry it weighs about 471 lb. per cub. ft. From the bark of the holly See also:

bird-See also:lime is manufactured. From the leaves are obtainable a colouring See also:matter named ilixanthin, ilicic See also:acid, and a See also:bitter principle, ilicin, which has been variously described by different See also:analytical chemists. They are eaten by See also:sheep and See also:deer, and in parts of France serve as a winter See also:fodder for See also:cattle. The berries provoke in See also:man violent vomiting and purging, but are eaten with See also:immunity by thrushes and other birds. The larvae of the moths See also:Sphinx ligustri and Phoxopteryx naevana have been met with on holly. The leaves are See also:mined by the larva of a See also:fly, Phytomyza and both on them and the tops of the young twigs occurs the plant-See also:louse Aphis ilicis (Kaltenbach, Pflanzenfeinde, 1874, p. 427). The See also:custom of employing holly and other plants for decorative purposes at See also:Christmas is one of considerable antiquity, and has been regarded as a survival of the usages of the See also:Roman Saturnalia, or of an old Teutonic practice of See also:hanging the interior of dwellings with ever-greens as a See also:refuge for sylvan See also:spirits from the inclemency of winter. A Border See also:proverb defines an habitual See also:story-See also:teller as one that " lees never but when the hollen is See also:green." Several popular superstitions exist with respect to holly. In the See also:county of See also:Rutland it is deemed unlucky to introduce it into a See also:house before Christmas See also:Eve. In some See also:English rural districts the prickly and non-prickly kinds are distinguished as " he " and " she " holly; and in See also:Derbyshire the tradition obtains that according as the holly brought at Christmas into a house is smooth or rough, the wife or the See also:husband will be See also:master.

Holly that has adorned churches at that season is in See also:

Worcestershire and See also:Herefordshire much esteemed and cherished, the See also:possession of a small See also:branch with berries being supposed to bring a lucky year; and Lonicerus mentions a notion in his See also:time vulgarly prevalent in See also:Germany that consecrated twigs of the plant hung over a See also:door are a See also:protection against See also:thunder. Among the North American species of Ilex are I. opaca, which resembles the European tree, the Inkberry, I. (Prinos) glabra, and the American Black See also:Alder, or Winterberry, I. (Prinos) verticillata. See also:Hooker (Fl. of Brit. See also:India, i. 598, 606) enumerates twenty-four See also:Indian species of Ilex. The Japanese I. crenata, and I. latifolia, a remark-ably See also:hardy plant, and the North American I. Cassine, are among the species cultivated in Britain. The leaves of several species of Ilex are used by dyers. The member of the genus most important economically is I. paraguariensis, the prepared leaves of which constitute See also:Paraguay See also:tea, or See also:MATE (q.v.). Knee holly is Ruscus aculeatus, or butcher's broom (see BaooM); See also:sea holly, Eryngium maritimum, an umbelliferous plant; and the See also:mountain holly of America, Nemopanthes canadensis, also a member of the order Ilicineae.

Besides the See also:

works above mentioned, see Louden, See also:Arboretum, ii. 506 (1844).

End of Article: HOLLY (Ilex Aquifolium)

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