Sweet Flower Blooms with Ying

Schefflera (pronounced /???fl?r?/) is a genus in the flowering plant family Araliaceae. The plants are trees, shrubs or lianas, growing 1-30 m tall, with woody stems and palmately-compound leaves. The circumscription of the genus has varied greatly. Phylogenetic studies have shown that the widely-used broad circumscription as a pantropical genus of over 700 species is polyphyletic, but it remains to be seen how this will affect the classification of the genus.

Several species are grown in pots as houseplants, most commonly Schefflera actinophylla (Umbrella Tree) and Schefflera arboricola (Dwarf Umbrella Tree). Numerous cultivars have been selected for various characters, most popularly for variegated or purple foliage. Schefflera species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidopteran species including Batrachedra arenosella (recorded on S. stellata). Schefflera arboricola and Schefflera actinophylla can be used to attract birds.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didymopanax

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Ilex opaca (American Holly) is a species of holly, native to the eastern United States, from coastal Massachusetts south to central Florida, and west to southeastern Missouri and eastern Texas.
The species typically grows as an understory tree in forests. It is rare in the north of its range in southern Connecticut, southeastern New York, and isolated areas of Cape Cod, and always small there. It is abundant further south on the southern coast and in the Gulf states, reaching its greatest size on the bottomlands of southern Arkansas and eastern Texas. The branches are short and slender. The roots are thick and fleshy. It will grow in both dry and swampy soil, but grows slowly.

The flowers are pollinated by insects, including bees, wasps, ants, and night-flying moths. The berries are reputedly poisonous to humans, but are important survival food for birds, who will eat the berries after other food sources are exhausted. The tree also forms a thick canopy which offers protection for birds from predators and storms. Songbirds including thrushes, mockingbirds, catbirds, bluebirds and thrashers frequently feed on the berries.

Cultivation and uses
The wood is very pale, tough, close-grained, takes a good polish, and is used for whip-handles, engraving blocks, and cabinet work. It can also be dyed and used as a substitute for ebony. It has a density 0.58 to 0.64. The sap is watery, and contains a bitter substance which possesses tonic properties.

It is often planted as an ornamental plant, although a slow growing one. Over 1,000 cultivars have been selected, including plants selected for cold tolerance (‘Cobalt’, a male cultivar, is able to tolerate temperatures as low as ?32 °C), growth form (e.g. dwarf forms such as ‘Cardinal Hedge’, a female plant growing to 1.2 m tall), and color and abundance of fruit (notable female cultivars including the large-berried ‘Yule’, and the yellow-berried ‘Canary’ and ‘Morgan Gold’).

Holly is a popular Christmas decoration. In English poetry and English stories the Holly is inseparably connected with the merry-making and greetings which gather around the Christmas time. The custom is followed in North America, and holly and mistletoe are widely used for decoration of homes and churches. The European Holly does not grow in the climate of most of the United States, but the American Holly makes an excellent second choice for it closely resembles the European species. The leaves are similar in outline and toothed and bristled very much the same way, but they are a paler green and the surface gloss is duller than in the European species.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilex_opaca

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Ilex verticillata (American Winterberry) is a species of holly native to eastern North America in the United States and southeast Canada, from Newfoundland west to Ontario and Minnesota, and south to Alabama.

It is a shrub growing to 1–5 m tall. It is one of a number of hollies which are deciduous, losing their leaves in the fall. In wet sites, it will spread to form a dense thicket, while in dry soil it remains a tight shrub. The leaves are glossy green, 3.5–9 cm long, 1.5–3.5 cm broad, with a serrated margin and an acute apex. The flowers are small, 5 mm diameter, with five to eight white petals. The fruit is a globose red drupe 6–8 mm diameter, which often persists on the branches long into the winter, giving the plant its English name. Like most hollies, it is dioecious, with separate male and female plants; the proximity of at least one male plant is required to pollenize the females in order to bear fruit.

The species occurs particularly in wetland habitats, but also on dry sand dunes and grassland. The berries are an important food resource for numerous species of birds.

Cultivation and uses
The berries were used by Native Americans for medicinal purposes, the origin of the name “fever bush”.
The winterberry is prized for the midwinter splash of bright color from densely packed berries, whose visibility is heightened by the loss of foliage; therefore it is popular even where other, evergreen, hollies are also grown. The bare branches covered in berries are also popular for cutting and use in floral arrangements. It is a tough plant which is easy to grow, with very few diseases or pests. Although wet acidic soils are optimal, the winterberry will grow well in the average garden. Numerous cultivars are available, differing in size and shape of the plant and color of the berry. At least one male plant must be planted in proximity to one or more females for them to bear fruit.

Other names that have been used include Black Alder Winterberry, Brook Alder, Canada holly, Coralberry, Deciduous Holly, Deciduous Winterberry, False alder, Fever bush, Inkberry, Michigan Holly, Possumhaw, Swamp Holly, Virginian Winterberry, or Winterberry Holly.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilex_opaca

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