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The Irish Ivy, which was brought from that country, is a fine variety with broad leaves. It was introduced by Earl Camden. HIPPOPHAE Rhamnoides. SEA BUCKTHORN. This is a scarce shrub; but is very useful as a plant for forming shelter on the hills near the sea-coast, it having been found to stand the sea-breeze better than any plant of the kind that is indigenous to this country. ILEX aquifolium.
I. Aquifolium fructu albo has white berries; in I. Aquifolium fructu luteo they are yellow and very abundantly produced; and in I. Aquifolium fructu nigro they are black. I. Aquifolium handsworthensis has elliptic-oblong spiny leaves, with a creamy-white margin and marbled with gray. Grafted trees bear berries in great profusion from the time they are only a foot high, and are highly ornamental.
I. Aquifolium Hodginsii has large, broadly oblong-ovate, slightly spiny leaves, and large crimson-red berries that ripen late in autumn. I. Aquifolium Hodginsii aurea is a sub-variety with a broad golden margin to the leaves, and the disc splashed with gray.
The flowers when at their best are very ornamental, being bright pink, and with the standard streaked with a deeper shade. They are abundantly produced, and render the plant very conspicuous during the summer and autumn months. When planted on an old wall, and allowed to roam at will, the Restharrow is, perhaps, seen to best advantage. OSMANTHUS AQUIFOLIUM ILLICIFOLIUS. Holly-leaved Osmanthus.
Beautiful and distinct is I. Aquifolium Lawsoniana, with ovate, flat, almost spineless leaves, heavily and irregularly blotched with yellow in the centre. The berries are of a brilliant red. The variety differs from Milkmaid in having flat, nearly entire leaves. I. Aquifolium pendula has a wide, rounded, drooping head, but otherwise does not differ from the type.
The varieties are very numerous, and differ chiefly in the form and toothing of the leaves, which are variegated in many cases, their size and form, and in the colour of the berries in a few instances. I. Aquifolium albo-marginata has ovate, nearly flat, spiny-serrate leaves, with a narrow silvery margin, and fruits freely.
In southern England it does well, and, being a tree of unusual beauty of both leaves and flowers, is well worthy of attention. Rich loam, not too stiff, will grow the Idesia well. ILEX AQUIFOLIUM. Common Holly. Though the Hollies are not usually reckoned ornamental for the sake of their flowers, their berries are highly so. Some of them are nevertheless deliciously fragrant when in bloom.
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