Holly Picture Monograph

An old legend declares that the Holly first sprang up under the footsteps of Christ, when He trod the earth, and its thorny leaves and scarlet berries, like drops of blood, have been thought symbolical of the Saviour’s sufferings, for  which reason the tree is called ‘Christ’s Thorn’ in the languages of the  northern countries of Europe. It is, perhaps, in connection with these legends  that the tree was called the Holy Tree, as it is generally named by our older  writers. Turner, for instance, refers to it by this name in his Herbal published  in 1568. Other popular names for it are Hulver and Holme, and it is still called  Hulver in Norfolk, and Holme in Devon, and Holme Chase in one part of Dartmoor.

Pliny describes the Holly under the name of Aquifolius, needle leaf, and adds  that it was the same tree called by Theophrastus Crataegus, but later commentators deny this. Pliny tells us that Holly if planted near a house or  farm, repelled poison, and defended it from lightning and witchcraft, that the  flowers cause water to freeze, and that the wood, if thrown at any animal, even  without touching it, had the property of compelling the animal to return and lie down by it.  

In May, the Holly bears in the axils of the  leaves, crowded, small, whitish flowers, male and female flowers being usually  borne on different trees. The fertile flowers are succeeded by the familiar,  brilliant, coral-red berries. The same tree rarely produces abundant crops of  flowers in consecutive seasons, and Hollies sometimes produce abundance of  flowers, but never mature berries, this barrenness being caused by the male  flowers alone being properly developed. Berries are rarely produced abundantly  when the tree is much clipped, and are usually found in the greatest number on  the upper part of the tree, where the leaves are less spiny.

The berries, though  eaten by birds, are injurious to human beings, and children should be warned  against them. Deer will eat the leaves in winter, and sheep thrive on them. They  are infested with few insects.

The ease with which Holly can be kept trimmed renders it valuable as a hedge  plant: it forms hedges of great thickness that are quite impenetrable.

It has been stated by M. J. Pierre, that the young stems are gathered in  Morbihan by the peasants, and made use of as a cattle-food from the end of  November until April, with great success. The stems are dried, and having been  bruised are given as food to cows three times daily. They are found to be very  wholesome and productive of good milk, and the butter made from it is excellent. 

It is also well known to rabbit-breeders that a Holly-stick placed in a hutch  for the rabbits to gnaw, will act as a tonic, and restore their appetite.

The wood of Holly is hard, compact and of a remarkable even substance  throughout. Except towards the centre of very old trees, it is beautifully  white, and being susceptible of a very high polish, is much prized for  ornamental ware, being extensively used for inlaying, as in the so-called  Tunbridge ware. The evenness of its grain makes it very valuable to the turner.  When freshly cut, it is of a slightly greenish hue, but soon becomes perfectly  white, and its hardness makes it superior to any other white wood. As it is very  retentive of its sap and warps in consequence, it requires to be well dried and  seasoned before being used. It is often stained blue, green, red or black; when  of the latter colour, its principal use is as a substitute for ebony, as in the  handles of metal teapots. Mathematical instruments are made of it, also the  blocks for calico printing, and it has been employed in wood engraving as a  substitute for boxwood, to which, however, it is inferior. The wood of the  silver-striped variety is said to be whiter than that of the common kind.

The berries possess totally different qualities to the leaves, being  violently emetic and purgative, a very few occasioning excessive vomiting soon  after they are swallowed, though thrushes and blackbirds eat them with impunity.  They have been employed in dropsy; also, in powder, as an astringent to check  bleeding.

Culpepper says ‘the bark and leaves are good used as fomentations for broken  bones and such members as are out of joint.’ He considered the berries to be  curative of colic.

From the bark, stripped from the young shoots and suffered to ferment,  birdlime is made. The bark is stripped off about midsummer and steeped in clean  water; then boiled till it separates into layers, when the inner green portion  is laid up in small heaps till fermentation ensues. After about a fortnight has  elapsed, it becomes converted into a sticky, mucilaginous substance, and is  pounded into a paste, washed and laid by again to ferment. It is then mixed with  some oily matter, goosefat being preferred, and is ready for use. Very little,  however, is now made in this country. In the north of England, Holly was  formerly so abundant in the Lake District, that birdlime was made from it in  large quantities and shipped to the East Indies for destroying insects.