see it clearly

Holm Tree

Evergreen trees, so characteristic of the warm and moist insular climates of sub-tropical or of warmer temperate latitudes, are at once recognized as exceptional in the colder north. Even the Holly is with us on the northern limit of its area of distribution; and the idea of an Oaktree is so closely associated in our minds with boughs bare of leaves during the winter, that we are apt to forget that a considerable number of species of this large genus retain their foliage throughout the year. Among these are the Cork Oak (Quercus suber), the Kermes Oak (Q. coccifera), and the Green, or Live Oak (Q. virens); but the only one that has been cultivated to any extent, or that will grow freely throughout the greater part of our islands, is the Holm Oak (Q. ilex).

Though the name "Holly-leaved" more properly belongs to a distinct, but allied species, the most prevalent form in Spain, Quercus grammuntia, there can be little doubt that Quercus ilex derives its popular name of Holm Oak from the resemblance of its dark leathery leaves to those of our native evergreen, the name of which was often written Holm instead of Holly, and not, as has been suggested, from its flourishing on holms or islands in rivers.

It is a native of Southern Asia, from Cochin-China west-wards, North Africa, and the south of Europe, occurring wild as far north as Nantes, and growing at an altitude of 3,200 feet on the slopes of Etna. Even in its native countries it seems to have but little power of ousting other vegetation, so that it seldom forms forests; but both where it is indigenous, and with us, it thrives remarkably close to the seashore, where no other European oak will flourish. Considering, therefore, its dense foliage, its evergreen character, and its value as timber, this tree might certainly with advantage be more extensively planted as a screen in such situations. A winter of exceptional severity may cause it to lose its leaves, but is seldom fatal to it.

As the trunk is generally furnished with branches down to the ground, the Holm Oak has, even when of large size, the appearance of a gigantic bush or shrub, rather than that of a timber tree; but when pruned, or drawn up by being planted with other trees, it may form a straight trunk, and reach a height of 50, 60, 70, and even upwards of 80 feet, with a circumference which, though generally not more than from 2 to 6 feet, has reached 11 and even 22 feet. Its growth is rapid at first, reaching 20 or 30 feet in from twelve to fifteen years; but afterwards it increases much more slowly, seldom exceeding 50 feet of height when as many years of age. It is, no doubt, to this slow growth that the brown heart-wood of this species owes its close texture, hardness, and high specific gravity, weighing as it does, as much as seventy pounds per cubic foot.

Though we cannot altogether believe the stories of its longevity told by Pliny, there can be no doubt that this tree, which, under the name of Ilex, is so commonly referred to by Virgil and Horace, does live to a great age. Pliny would have us believe that in his time--in the first century, that is, of our era--a Holm Oak was still in existence on the Vatican, in the trunk of which Etruscan letters of brass were inlaid, indicating that the tree was older than Rome itself; whilst three other specimens were still growing at Tibur which were in existence when Tiburtus founded that city, ages even before the foundation of Rome!

The leaves vary considerably in outline in seedling varieties, in one of which, known as latifolia, they are no less than five inches long and nearly three in breadth, though generally not half these dimensions. They are mostly of an ovate-oblong form, with an acute point and an unnotched margin; but they are sometimes serrate, irregularly toothed, like the Holly, or crisped or wrinkled at the edge. Of a very dark glossy green on their upper surfaces, they are more or less hoary beneath; but their stiff leathery consistency prevents them from turning lightly in the breeze, so that it must be admitted that the tree is somber in its general effect. Unfortunately, too, almost every leaf is discolored by the attacks of the larva of the moth Lithocolletis messaniella, which causes them to drop off somewhat prematurely. Their perfectly smooth surface, and often unrolled edges, give the leaves, however, a lustrous appearance, and it is remarkable that when any of them are spinous, it is, as in the Holly, those nearest the ground that are so.

The tree flowers in May, the male flowers being in catkins, springing from the axils of the leaves of the previous year towards the apex of the branch, whilst the female blossoms, varying from four to eight in number, are on a stalk arising from the axils of leaves of the same year, and, of course, still nearer to the apex of the branch. The catkins of male flowers are about an inch and a half long, each flower consisting of a cup-shaped calyx and six stamens, furnished with long stalks, or "filaments," to the pollen-bearing anthers. The stalk, or "peduncle," of the female flowers is between one and two inches long, and they are scattered along it with a "sessile," or unstalked, insertion. The acorns which succeed them do not ripen until the autumn of the second year, only one or two coming to maturity on each peduncle. They are generally rather long, oval, and smooth, being enclosed for a third, or even half, of their length in cups made up of numerous narrow downy scales, which closely overlap one another. The acorns are generally bitter, and this is said to be particularly the case with specimens of this Oak grown in cold, damp situations. On the other hand--though perhaps never as sweet as those of the Spanish Holly-leaved Oak (Q. grammuntia), which are compared to the best chestnuts, and are said to have fattened the tunny-fish as they passed into the Mediterranean by the once oak-clad shores of Andalusia--some trees of the Holm Oak produce both sweet and bitter acorns, and there is never any recognizable external difference.

The Ilex is propagated entirely from seed, no tree, it is said, being more difficult to transplant, so that it is best to plant the acorns where it is wished to have the trees; failing which, they can be raised in pots. The difficulty arises from the long tap-roots, which, in suitable soil, will descend to a very great depth, altogether disproportionate to the height of the trunk, sending out no more lateral branches or fibres than a carrot. As the tree is peculiarly intolerant of cold wet subsoil, it will accordingly thrive best in a deep loam, which should be sandy or calcareous, rather than clayey. If, however, in the nursery-garden young plants are grown in a stiffish soil, and transplanted every other year, they can be compelled to throw out lateral roots, though they will not make the same rapid growth of stem as in warmer and drier soil. The acorns sown in England are generally imported, although in favorable seasons they may be well matured and ripened in this country.

The bark is black, thin, hard, and even, or slightly cracked on old stems, but never corky. It contains, like our common Oaks, a considerable quantity of tannin, and could be, but seldom is, used in that remarkable chemical process of the tanyard with which man seems to have been empirically acquainted from a remote antiquity.

The sap-wood is whitish; but the heart is, as has been already stated, very close-grained, hard, and heavy, and of a brown colour. It is susceptible of a fine polish; but like most other hard and heavy woods, it is very liable to twist and split whilst drying. It is, however, very durable and of considerable flexibility, so that it is in use in Languedoc for the handles of hatchets and other tools. Evelyn, who was a great admirer of this species, and an advocate for the more extensive planting of it in England, recommends it also for "mallet-heads, mall-balls, chairs, axle-trees, wedges, beetles, pins, and palisadoes in fortification," and it has been suggested for naval architecture, its weight rendering it suitable for use in the bottoms of ships, whilst its greater strength makes it possible to use it in smaller scantlings than common oak. In Spain it is used for charcoal, which it yields of excellent quality; and there can be no doubt as to its great value for planting near the sea-coast to screen other trees, which are in general so far less able to bear the sea-breeze. Planted close together in a row in such a situation, a warm and handsome hedge could be grown to a height of 40 or 50 feet even in a less number of years. 

Few things, perhaps, are more striking to the eye of the thoughtful observer of plant-life than the exuberance of this and other evergreens in proximity to the sea. Camellias, Magnolias, Myrtles, Oranges, Veronica, Euonymus, or Tamarisk, all tell the same tale of practically continuous vitality, as evinced by the growth of one year's leaves until after the unfolding of the next year's crop, under the influence of an equable climate, free from extremes of heat or of cold. The Holm is also said, owing to its compactly rounded outline and tough and solid wood, to be less liable to injury by wind or lightning than any other species of Oak. However this may be as regards wind, it is not improbable with reference to lightning, though, perhaps, for a reason not generally recognized--its possession, in fact, of a perennial covering of pointed leaves. It has been observed that winter thunderstorms are more destructive to trees than those in the summer: that Oaks overgrown with ivy are seldom struck; and that perhaps trees with rounded leaves are more liable to injury from this cause than those whose leaves are pointed. The leaves, it is suggested, act as a myriad of discharging points for the atmospheric electricity; in which case, of course, evergreens would have a decided advantage. When, however, we consider the landscape effect of an exclusively evergreen tree-flora, it must be admitted that the uniform dark tints of its perennial verdure are apt to pall upon the senses.

Evergreen leaves are almost invariably thicker than those of deciduous plants, and besides having occasionally an epidermis of more than the usual single layer of colorless cells, they have commonly a "hypoderm," or sub-epidermal tissue, also consisting of more than the usual number of layers of cells, which being, as they are, in a vertical position, and filled with "chlorophyll," or "leaf-green," give the leaf its characteristically dark tint, absorbing far more light than the transparently thin and pale-hued foliage of our northern forests. In these evergreen woodlands we can never feel the exhilaration of opening spring, though we are also, it must be admitted, spared the sad retrospects of autumn: even though the sun is still rising in the deep cloudless blue of a southern sky, beneath the gloom of the Ilex "it is always afternoon." Just as in the tropics, amid the ceaseless hum of teeming insect life and the gaudy splendor of the flowers of the jungle, whose superabundance suggests the cruel, relentless, and never-ending struggle for existence, so among olives, oleanders, ilexes, and cypress, the heart of the traveler turns to the restful green of northern pastures, and even to the bare boughs of winter that tell of nature's rest.