HOLLY, Ilex, a genus of trees and shrubs of the natural order aquifoliacm, chiefly natives of temperate climates; with evergreen, leathery, shining, and generally spitions leaves; small flowers which have a 4 to 5-toothed calyx, a wheel-shaped 4- to 5-cleft corolla, 4 or 5 stamens, and the fruit globose and fleshy, with 4 or 5 stones (nuts). The COMMON HOLLY (1. trquifolium), the only European species, and a native also of some parts of Asia, is a well-known ornament of woods, parks, and shrUbberies in Britain, the stiffness of its habit being so compensated by the abundance of its branchlets and leaves, as to make it one of our most beautiful evergreens. it is found as a native plant in Scotland, although Britain is nearly its northern limit; and it attains a greater size and displays greater luxuriance in the northern than in the southern parts of its geo graphic range, often appearing in the former as a tree of considerable size, 20 to 50 ft high, whilst in the latter it is generally a mere bush. It prefers light soils. There are numerous varieties of holly, produced, or at least perpetuated, by cultivation, exhibiting great diversity in the leaves, of which the 11,edgehog holly may be mentioned as extremely sinuous and spinous, whilst others are prized for their color, golden, silver-blotched, etc. The flowers of the holly are whitish, axillary, nearly umbellate; the fruit small, scarlet„ rarely yellow or white. The abundance of the fruit adds much to the ornamental chart aster of the tree in winter, and affords food for birds; but to man it is purgative, emetic, and diuretic, and in larger quantities poisonous. The leaves are modorous, have
mucilaginous, bitter, and somewhat austere taste, and have been used medicinally in., cases of gout and rheumatism, as a diaphoretic, and also as an astringent and tonic to correct a tendency to diarrhea, etc. The leaves and small branches, chopped, art.
sometimes used for feeding sheep in severe winters. ThQ root and bark are emollient, expectorant, and diuretic. Bird-lime (q.v.) is made from the inner bark. The wood is almost as white as ivory, very hard and fine-grained, and is used by cabinet-makers, turners, musical-instrument makers, etc., and sometimes for wood-engraving. Handles of tools and handles of metal tea-pots are very often made of it. The holly is often planted for hedges, as it bears clipping well and makes an excellent fence. A holly hedge may either be kept low or, as is the case at Tvninghame, in East Lothian, allowed to grow to the height of 20 or 30 feet. In the gardening of former days, trollies were often clipped into fantastic shapes. The name holly is said to be derived from the use of the branches and berries churches at Christmas, from which the tree was called holy-tree.—Numerous other species of holly are found in North America, most of them in swampy situations, in South America, Nepaul, Japan, and other parts of the world; sonic of which have now become not 'infrequent ornamental trees and shrubsin Britain.—Mat6 (q.v.), or Paraguay tea, is the leaf of a South American spe cies of holly (I. Paraguensis).