The WOOD is light, tough, not strong, white when cut, turning brown when aged. Valued and much used for cabinet making, interior finish, and turnery. Many of the largest and best holly trees have been cut and marketed. Holly is a highly desirable Christmas decoration and a desirable ornamental tree for yards. Wild holly is becoming scarce. Excessive cuttings should be avoided. YAUPON Ilex vomitoria Ait. This close relative of the American holly is found in East Texas to Matagorda Bay, Rio Blanco and the Guadalupe River, and north to southern Arkansas. On the rich bottomlands of eastern Texas, yaupon is a small tree, 20 to 25 feet high with a trunk rarely over 6 inches in diameter; elsewhere it is a shrub. The LEAVES are 1 to 2 inches long, ¼ to 1 inch wide, thick, glossy green above, paler below, and persistent for 2 or 3 years. [Illustration: YAUPON (Two-thirds natural size)] The FLOWERS, male and female, are borne on separate plants. The FRUIT, a scarlet berry-like drupe, is produced in great abundance by the female plant. The WOOD is of little value except for fuel. Yaupon is used in the South as a hedge plant, and is much prized for Christmas decorations. A tea made from leaves was once popular with the Indians. The plant is now grown on the Atlantic Coast for the commercial production of yaupon tea for medicinal purposes. I. decidua Walt. known as POSSUM HAW (WINTER BERRY) is similar to yaupon, but the leaves shed in the fall; the fruits, which remain over winter, are orange to orange-scarlet in color. SILVER MAPLE Acer saccharinum L. Silver, or soft, maple is found on moist land and along streams in the extreme eastern part of the state. In its best region of growth, the valley of the lower Ohio River, it attains heights of 100 feet or more and diameters of 3 feet or over. [Illustration: SILVER MAPLE (Twig and fruit, one-half natural size; leaf, one-third natural size)] The BARK on old trunks is dark gray and broken into long flakes or scales. The twigs are slender, brittle, reddish-brown, and shiny. The buds are rounded, red or reddish-brown, blunt-pointed, generally like those of red maple. The simple, opposite LEAVES have from 3 to 5 lobes ending in long points with toothed margins and separated by deep angular sinuses or openings; the leaves are pale green on the upper surface, silvery-white underneath, and have a red petiole. The FLOWERS arising from the large prominent flower buds are a greenish-yellow color and appear in clusters in the spring before the leaves. The FRUIT ripens in the spring and consists of a pair of wing samaras or “keys” with wings 1 to 2 inches long on a slender, flexible, thread-like peduncle about an inch long.