Photos

This photograph I took in Interlaken, Switzerland. I like this small tree called Holy with artistic, glossy green leaves.

About holy:
The spinous leaves and blood-red berries of the former might well be taken by the Christian symbolist as a mystic foreshadowing of the Passion at the celebration of the Nativity, and the name of the tree, which originally referred mainly to its pointed leaves, may have suggested something holy.
The following curious carol, dating from the year 1456, and preserved among the Harleian manuscripts, the Holly is accorded the pre-eminence:

"Nay, Ivy! nay, it shall not be I wys;
Let Holy hafe the maystry, as the maner ys.
Holy stond in the halle, fayre to behold;
Ivy stond without the dore; she ys full sore a cold.

Holy hath berys as red as any rose,
The foster and the hunters kepe hem from the does.
Ivy hath berys as black as any slo;
Ther com the oule and ete hem as she go.

Beliefs related to Holy
Many popular superstitions still linger round the use of Holly at Christmas. In Rutland it is deemed unlucky to bring it into a house before Christmas Eve; in Derbyshire it is said that, according as the Holly brought into the house at this season be prickly or smooth, the husband or the wife will be master during the year. In some western counties the boughs removed from churches are treasured, like the palms at Passion-tide, for luck throughout the year following; and in Germany, like the tapers used at Candlemas, they are looked upon as a sure protection against thunder.

origination:
The name Holly is probably derived from the root hul, or kul, connected with the Latin culmen, a peak, and culmus, having reference to the same character as its modern specific name aquifolium, or "needle-leaved." Though known as Stechpalme in modern German, it was formerly in that language termed Hulis, Hulst, or Hulse. William Turner, in the "Libellus de re herbaria" (1538), his earliest botanical work, speaking of it under the head of Ruscus, says, "Procerum aut galli housum, angli an holy tre et an Huluar tre nominant, hec etiam arbor, si Ruellio credimus, ilex aquifolia dicitur e cujus corticibus ipse admodum puer viscum confeci." "But the French call the tall kind housum; the English, an holy tre and an Hulvar tre. The old French houlx still retains its Teutonic form in the modern houx, and the name hulver is in use in the eastern counties, not to mention the name knee-hul for the Butcher's Broom (Ruscus aculeatus); whilst many a modern schoolboy has followed Turner's example in the manufacture of birdlime by chewing hollybark. Under the form holm, the name of the Holly enters into many of our early English place-names, such as Holmwood, and no one has ever doubted the indigenous character of the species, which is still represented by ancient trees in the oldest portions of our English forests.

where can it grow
The Holly will grow in any soil in which water is not absolutely stagnant; but it prefers a rather dry sandy loam, and, whilst it not only "outdares cold winter's ire," but seems to flourish in the bleakest situations, it does not do well under the shade of other trees. It is generally from ten to forty feet in height, and not more than two or three in girth.One of the great charms of the Holly is its silvery bark. Smooth on the old stems as in the beech, but without the glossy sheen of the beautiful birch, it yet affords a most pleasing contrast to the dark foliage. The young twigs are light green, and slightly downy.



From May to August the tree bears clusters of small, wax-like, white flowers, which seem peculiarly attractive to bees.The berry is generally red, but sometimes yellow, white, or, without the aid of Jack Frost, black; and, though eaten with impunity by birds, may be said to be poisonous to man, being extremely emetic and cathartic in their effects. Owing, however, to a bitter principle that they contain, known as ilicin, the leaves were formerly used medicinally in cases of fever and rheumatism. It is probably this, or an analogous principle, that gives its flavor to the yerba or mate tea of South America, which is prepared from the leaves of an allied species (Ilex paraguayensis).

Hollies can be readily raised from cuttings, which are preferably set in April or May; but, as Evelyn says, seedlings are better, especially natural and well-established ones from the woods. The berries for seed should be mixed with sandy loam for a twelvemonth, as they do not germinate till their second spring.

Few objects on a lawn are more beautiful than a Holly-bush or clump of Hollies, with red or yellow berries peeping from among the glossy leaves flecked with ivory-white, while a briar-rose clambers with pink and white sprays among its boughs, or the autumnal glories of Virginian creeper relieve the more somber green.

In praise of this glossy green leaves, Shakespeare once had said,

"Heigh-ho! the green holly!
This life is most jolly."