Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/114

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 separate segments by the swelling of the young ovary (M Nab). The holly occurs in Britain, northeast Scotland excepted, and in western and southern Europe, from as high as 62 X. lat. in Norway to Turkey and the Caucasus, and in western Asia. It is found generally in forest glides or in hedges, and does not flourish under the shade of other trees. In Eng land it is usually small, probably on account of its destruc tion for timber, but it may attain to 60 or 70 feet in height, and Loudon mentions one tree at Claremont, in Surrey, of 80 feet. Some of the trees on Bleak Hill, Shropshire, are asserted to be 14 feet in girth at some dis tance from the ground (JV. and Q., 5th ser., xii. 508). The holly is abundant in France, especially in Britanny. It^ will grow in almost any soil not absolutely wet, but flourishes best in rather dry than moist sandy loam. Beckmann (Hist, of Invent., i. 193, 1846) says that the plant which first induced J. di Castro to search for alum in Italy was the holly, which is there still considered to indicate that its habitat is aluminiferous. The holly is propagated by means of the seeds, which do not normally germinate until their second year (see Arboriculture, vol. ii. p. 322), by whip-grafting and budding, and by cuttings of the matured summer shoots, which, placed in sandy soil and kept under cover of a hand-glass in sheltered situations, generally strike root in spring. Transplantation should be performed in damp weather in September and October, or, according to some writers, in spring or on mild days in winter, and care should be taken that the roots are not dried by exposure to the air. It is rarely injured by frosts in Britain, where its foliage and 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 season, has promoted excess of growth. There are numerous varieties of the holly. Some trees have yellow, and others white or even black fruit. In the fruitless variety laurifolia, " the most floriferous of all hollies" (Hibberd), the flowers are highly fragrant ; the form known as femiiia is, on the other hand, remarkable for the number of its berries. The leaves in the unarmed varieties aureo-marginata and albo- maryinata are of great beauty, and in ferox they are studded with sharp prickles. The holly is of importance as a hedge-plant (see Arboriculture, vol. ii. p. 319), and is patient of clipping, which is best performed by the knife. Evelyn s holly hedge at Say s Court, Deptford, was 400 feet long, 9 feet high, and 5 feet in breadth. To form fences, for which Evelyn recommends the employ ment of seedlings from woods, the plants should be 9 to 12 iaches in height, with plenty of small fibrous roots, and require to be set 1 to H feet apart, in well-manured and weeded ground, and thoroughly watered.

The wood of the holly is even-grained and hard, espe cially 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 turn ing, and, since it stains well, in the place of ebony, as for tea pot handles. For engraving it is inferior to box. When dry it weighs about 47 ft> per cubic foot. From the bark of the holly bird-lime is manufactured. From the leaves are obtainable a colouring matter named ilixantMn, Hide acid, and a bitter principle, ilidn, which has been vaiiously described by different analytical chemists. The leaves have been used in rheumatism, and were at one time, on account of their taste, supposed to be of value in inter mittent fever. A. Loriicerus (Krentcrb., Th. 1, p. xxxviii., Frankf., 1582, fol.) speaks of their dccoctiun as a remedy for pain in the side. They are eaten by sheep and deer, and in parts of France serve as a winter fodder for cattle. The berries provoke in man violent emesis and catharsis, but are eaten with immunity by thrushes and other birds. The larvte of the moths Sphinx ligustri, L., and Phoxopteryx ncevana, Hb., have been met with on holly. The leaves are mined by the larva of a fly, Phytomyza ilicis, and both on them and the tops of the young twigs occurs the plant-louse Aphis ilicis, Kalt. (Kaltenbach, Pflanzenfeinde, p. 427, 1874). The custom of employing holly and other plants for decorative purposes at Christmas is one of con siderable antiquity, and has been regarded as a survival of the usages of the Roman Saturnalia, or of an old Teutonic practice of hanging the interior of dwellings with ever greens as a refuge for sylvan spirits from the inclemency of winter. A Border proverb defines an habitual story-teller as one that "lees never but wLeu the hollen is green." Several popular superstitions exist with respect to holly. In the county of Rutland it is deemed unlucky to intro duce 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 husband will be master. Holly that has adorned churches at that season are in Worcestershire and Herefordshire much esteemed and cherished, the possession of a small branch with berries being supposed to bring a lucky year; and Lonicerus (op. cit.) mentions a notion in his time vulgarly prevalent in Germany that consecrated twigs of the plant hung over a door are a protection against thunder.

HOLLYHOCK (from M.E. hoti doubtless because brought from the Holy Land, where it is indigenous (Wedg. ) and A.-S. hoc, a mallow), Altha-a rosea, L., a perennial plant of the natural order Malvaceae and tribe Mahece, a native of the East, has been cultivated in Great Britain for about three centuries. The ordinary hollyhock is single-blos somed, but the florists varieties have all double flowers, of white, yellow, rose, purple, violet, and other tints, some being almost black. The plant is in its prime about August, but by careful management examples may be obtained in blossom from July to as late as November. Hollyhocks are propagated from seed, or by division of the root, or by planting out in rich sandy soil, in a close frame, with a gentle bottom heat, single eyes from wood- shoots, or cuttings from outgrowths of the old stock or of the lateral offsets of the spike. The seed may be sown in October under cover, the plants obtained being potted in November, and kept under glass till the following April, or, if it be late-gathered, in May or June, in the open ground, whence, if required, the plants are best removed in October or April. Seedlings may also be raised