HOLLY (older Fallen, from AS. holen: con nected with Ir. euilenn, Gael, et/Moan, Welsh ce/yn, holly, and also with 011G. hulis. hull, Ger. //u/se, holly, Skt. solo, staff ), /if x. A genus of trees and shrubs of the natural order 'Hebrew, chiefly natives of temperate climates; with ever green, leathery, shining, and generally spirants leaves. The common holly (ilex „I quifolium), the only European species, and a native also of some parts of Asia, is a well-known ornament of parks and shrubberies in Great Britain, where it i:Imietimes attains a height of fifty feet upon suitably light soils. Numerous varieties of holly have been produced, or at least per petuated, by cultivation, 1.01 jell exhibit great diversity in the leaves. The dowers of the holly are whitish, axillary, nearly umbellate; the fruit small. scarlet, rarely yellow or white. :Medici nal properties are attributed to the leaves, ber ries, and roots. Bird-lime is made from the inner bark. The wood is almost as white as ivory, very hard and fine-grained, and is used Try cabinet-makers, turners. musical-instrument makers, etc., and sometimes for wood-engraving.
The holly is often planted for hedges. since it bears clipping well. The name holly is said to be derived from the use of the branches and berries to decorate churches at Christmas, from which the tree was called holy-tree. Numerous species of holly are found in North America, most of them in swampy situations; in South America, Nepal, Japan, and other parts of the world. Some of these have been introduced as ornamental trees and shrubs. Mat,• (q.v.), or Paraguay tea, is the leaf of a South American species of holly (Ilex Paragucnsis). In the United States there are a dozen species of Ilex, the finest of which, American holly (Ilex ancrci folio), is a small tree 20 to 40 feet tall, ex tensively used as a Christmas decoration, though the leaves are less glossy and the berries not so bright a red as the European species. Hex cassim is a shrub which occurs from Virginia southward. Its leaves are used for tea, and it furnished the 'black drink' of the North Carolina I nd inns.