HOLLY

Description:

Ilex Aqufolium. Belonging to the natural order Aquifoliacece the only British member of the genus Ilex. It is well known. It is sometimes called Holm, or Hulm, or Hulver Bush. Holly is probably a corruption of Holy.

Herbal Remedies and Medicinal Uses of Holly:

The leaves are bitter, mucous and astringent, having an austere taste. The berries expel wind, and therefore good for the colic, They are very purgative, 10 or 12 being generally sufficient to act on the bowels.

Used when ripe, they are efficacious in cleansing from morbid matter. They also act as an emetic and diuretic. The expressed juice is said to be beneficial in jaundice. A decoction of the bark and leaves makes an excellent fomentation for broken bones.

The berries dried, and powdered, are astringent and stay fluxes. The leaves were formerly used as a diaphoretic, and an infusion of them was given in catarrh, gout, pleurisy, and small-pox. In France, a few years ago, some physicians pronounced it to be a very superior febrifuge, being equal, if not superior to Peruvian bark. Pliny absurdly says the branches of the tree defend houses from lightning, and persons from witchcraft! From the inner bark bird-lime is prepared; it is steeped in cold water for a few hours, and then beaten in a mortar, washed in cold water, left to settle a day or two, the scum taken off, and the bird-lime is ready for use.