华中枸骨 hua zhong gou gu

Ilex aquifolium Linnaeus var. chinensis Loesener; I. dipyrena Wallich f. leptacantha (Lindley & Paxton) Loesener; I. dipyrena var. leptacantha (Lindley & Paxton) Loesener; I. huoshanensis Y. H. He; I. leptacantha Lindley & Paxton.

Shrubs evergreen, 1.5-3 m tall. Branchlets brown or gray-brown, slender, longitudinally ridged and sulcate, puberulent or glabrescent, lenticels absent; terminal buds conical, thin, puberulent or glabrescent, apically acute, with ciliate bud scales. Petiole 5-8 mm, abaxially rugose, adaxially shallowly sulcate, glabrous or sparsely puberulent; leaf blade abaxially greenish, adaxially dark green, shiny, elliptic-lanceolate, rarely ovate-elliptic, 4-9 × 1.5-2.8 cm, leathery, midvein adaxially shallowly impressed, puberulent near base, lateral veins 6-8 pairs, abaxially shallowly prominent or obscure, adaxially obscure, rarely evident, base broadly cuneate or subrounded, margin with 3-10 pairs of spinose teeth 2-4 mm, teeth apically yellow-brown or black, apex acuminate, spinose. Inflorescences: 1-flowered cymes, solitary or fasciculate, axillary on second year’s branchlets. Male inflorescences: cymes fasciculate; bracts ovate-lanceolate, pubescent, ciliate; flowers 4-merous, yellow; pedicels 1-2 mm, puberulent; bracteoles 2, median, deltoid, ciliate; calyx patelliform, ca. 2.5 mm in diam., deeply lobed, lobes ovate or deltoid, puberulent and ciliate; corolla rotate, ca. 6 mm in diam., petals oblong, ca. 3 mm, basally shallowly connate, apex ciliate; stamens longer than petals, anthers oblong-ovoid; rudimentary ovary subglobose, apex rounded. Female flowers not known. Infructescences: cymes, solitary or fasciculate, fascicles 2- or 3-fruited; fruiting pedicels ca. 2 mm, puberulent, with 2 subbasal, ciliate bracteoles. Fruit purplish red, globose, 6-7 mm in diam.; persistent calyx explanate, quadrangular, lobes ciliate; persistent stigma thinly discoid, 4-lobed; pyrenes 4, oblong-trigonous, ca. 6 mm, ca. 3 mm in diam., abaxially longitudinally 1-ridged, rugose and pitted throughout, endocarp stony. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. Aug-Nov.

● Margins of woods, by small streams, shrubby areas at roadsides; 500-1000 m. Anhui (cultivated), Chongqing (Fengjie, Wushan), Hubei, Yunnan.