HOLLY (Ilex), a large genus of trees and shrubs of the family Aquifoliaceae, containing about 18o species. The genus finds its chief development in Central and South America ; is well developed in Asia, especially the Chinese-Japanese area, and has but few species in Europe, Africa and Australia. In Europe, where I. Aquifolium is the sole surviving species, the genus was richly represented during the Miocene period by forms at first South American and Asiatic, and later North American in type (Schim per, Paleont. veget. iii. 204, 18i4). The leaves are generally leathery and evergreen, and are alternate and stalked; the flowers, commonly dioecious, are in axillary clusters and have a persistent four- to five-lobed calyx, a white, rotate four- or rarely five- or six-cleft corolla, with the four or five stamens adherent to its base in the male, and a two- to twelve-celled ovary; the fruit is a globose, usually red drupe, containing two to sixteen one-seeded stones.
The common European holly, or Hulver, I. Aquifolium, is an evergreen shrub or low tree, having smooth, ash-coloured bark, and wavy, pointed, smooth and glossy leaves, 2 to 3 in. long, with a spinous margin. The flowers, which appear in May, are ordinarily dioecious, as in all the best of the cultivated varieties in nurseries. Darwin (Dill. Forms of Flow., 1877, p. 297) says of the holly : "During several years I have examined many plants, but have never found one that was really hermaphrodite." Shirley Hibberd, however (Gard. Chron., 1877, ii. 777), mentions the oc currence of "flowers bearing globose anthers well furnished with pollen, and also perfect ovaries." The holly occurs in Great Britain, north-east Scotland excepted, and in western and southern Europe, from as high as 62° N. lat. in Norway to Turkey and the Caucasus and in western Asia. It is found generally in forest glades or in hedges, and does not flourish under the shade of other trees. In England it is usually small, probably on account of its destruction for timber, but it may attain to 6o or 8o ft. in height. Some of the trees on Bleak Hill, Shrop shire, are said to be 14 ft. in girth at some distance from the ground. The holly is abundant in France, especially in Brittany. It will grow in almost any soil not absolutely wet, but flourishes best in rather dry than moist sandy loam. The holly is propagated by means of the seeds, which do not normally germinate until their second year, by whip-graft ing and budding, and by cuttings of the matured summer shoots. Transplantation should be per formed in damp weather. It is rarely injured by frosts in Great Britain, where its foliage and bright red berries in winter ren der it a valuable ornamental tree. There are numerous holly varie ties. Some trees have yellow, and others white or even black berries. In the fruitless variety laurifolia, "the most floriferous of all hollies (Hibberd), the flow ers 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 albo-marginata are of great beauty, and in ferox they are studded with sharp prickles.
The holly is of importance as a hedge-plant, and is patient of clipping. Evelyn's holly hedge at Say's Court, Deptford, was 400 ft. long, 9 ft. high and 5 ft. in breadth.
The wood of the holly is even-grained and hard, especially when from the heartwood of large trees, and almost as white as ivory, except near the centre of old trunks, where it is brownish. It is employed in inlaying and turning, and, since it stains well, in the place of ebony, as for teapot handles. When dry it weighs about lb. per cu.ft. From the bark of the holly bird-lime is manu factured. The leaves are eaten by sheep and deer, and in parts of France serve as a winter fodder for cattle. The berries provoke in man violent vomiting and purging, but are eaten with immunity by birds.
The custom of employing holly and other plants for decorative purposes at Christmas is one of considerable antiquity, and has been regarded as a survi val of the usages of the Roman Saturnalia, or of an old Teutonic practice of hanging the interior of dwellings with evergreens as a refuge for sylvan spirits from the in clemency of winter. A Border proverb defines an habitual story-teller as one that "lees never but when the hollen is green." Several popular superstitions exist with respect to holly. In the county of Rut land it is deemed unlucky to introduce it into a house before Christmas Eve. In some English rural districts the prickly and non-prickly kinds are distinguished as "he" and "she" holly; and in Derbyshire the tradition obtains that according as the Holly brought at Christmas into a house is smooth or rough, the wife or the hus band will be master.
In North America some 12 native species occur, found chiefly in the south-eastern United States. The American holly (I. opaca), very similar in appearance and uses to the European holly, is a slow grow ing tree, sometimes 4o ft. or 5o ft. high, with a trunk 3 ft. or more in diameter. It grows in moist woods, mostly near the coast, from Massachusetts to Florida, westward to Texas, and northward in the Mississippi valley to Missouri and Indiana. Like the Old World holly, it is much used for Christmas decoration. The dahoon holly (I. Cassine), a shrub or small tree, sometimes 25 ft. high, with oblong, spineless and mostly toothless evergreen leaves, is found from Virginia to Florida and westward to Arkansas and Texas, and also in Cuba and the Bahamas. The cassena or emetic holly (I. vomitoria), called also yaupon, Carolina tea and Indian black-drink, because of its use by the Indians as an emetic and purgative, has nearly the same geographic range as the dahoon. It usually grows io ft. to 15 ft. high, and has small, minutely wavy-toothed leaves, about 1 in. long, and small fruits. Several North American species have deciduous leaves. Of these the best known is the Virginia winter-berry or black alder, a shrub, 6 ft. to 15 ft. high, native to swamps from Connecticut to Wisconsin and south to Florida and Missouri. The foliage turns black and falls off in autumn, leaving bright red persistent fruits which are used for winter decoration. Other deciduous species are the smooth winter-berry (I. laevigata), native to swamps from Maine to Pennsylvania and Georgia ; the swamp holly (I. decidua), widely distributed in the south-eastern States, and the mountain holly (I. monticola), of the Allegheny Mountain region. (See INK