滇西冬青 dian xi dong qing

Shrubs or trees, evergreen, ca. 7 m tall. Young branchlets thick, longitudinally angular and sulcate, puberulent or glabrous; older branchlets longitudinally fissured, rugose; lenticels conspicuously raised; leaf scars deltoid, very convex; terminal buds conical, small, puberulent. Stipules narrowly deltoid, apically acute; petiole 5-12 mm, adaxially narrowly sulcate, puberulent; leaf blade abaxially greenish, opaque, adaxially deep green, shiny, ovate, oblong, oblong-oblanceolate, elliptic, or obovate-elliptic, (5-)7-9(-11) × (1.5-)2-3(-4) cm, leathery, midvein impressed, puberulent or glabrous adaxially, lateral veins 10-12 pairs, evident abaxially, obscure adaxially, base rounded, obtuse, or rarely cuneate, margin serrulate or serrate on distal 1/2- 2/3, apex acuminate. Inflorescences: cymes, pseudopaniculate or pseudoracemose, axillary on first to second year’s branchlets; rachis 3-8 mm, puberulent. Male inflorescences: cymes of order (1 or)2(or 3), (1 or)3(or 5)-flowered, pseudopaniculate; rachis 5-8 mm; peduncles ca. 3 mm; bracts ovate, puberulent, apex acute; pedicels 2-3 mm, puberulent; bracteoles 2, basal, ciliate; flowers white or greenish, 4- or 5-merous; calyx ca. 2 mm in diam., deeply 4- or 5-lobed, lobes ovate-deltoid, ciliate; corolla rotate, ca. 6 mm in diam., petals ovate-oblong, ca. 2 × 1 mm, ciliate, basally rather connate; stamens ca. 2/3 as long as petals, anthers oblong; rudimentary ovary small, apex obtuse, inconspicuously lobed. Female inflorescences: cymes of order 1 or 2, 1-3-flowered, pseudopaniculate or pseudoracemose; rachis 3-5 mm; peduncles ca. 2 mm; pedicels ca. 1.5 mm; 1-flowered pedicels 3-3.5 mm, puberulent; bracteoles basal, ovate-deltoid, puberulent; calyx deeply 5-lobed, lobes ovate-deltoid, sparsely puberulent and ciliate; petals ovate-oblong, ca. 2 × 1.2 mm, basally slightly connate; staminodes ca. 2/3 as long as petals, sterile anthers sagittate; ovary ovoid, stigma capitate, shallowly 4- or 5-lobed. Infructescences: cymes 1(or 3)-fruited; rachis 5-8 mm; fruiting pedicels 3-5 mm, puberulent. Fruit red, globose, 3-5 mm in diam.; persistent calyx explanate, ca. 2 mm in diam.; persistent stigma thickly discoid or nearly capitate; pyrenes 5-7, ellipsoidal, ca. 2 mm, ca. 1 mm in diam., abaxially smooth, not sulcate, not striate, endocarp leathery. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Sep-Nov.

● Evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved forests, thickets, valleys, mountain slopes; 1800-2900(-3500) m. S and W Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan.

Lower Taxa

• Ilex forrestii var. forrestii
• Ilex forrestii var. glabra S. Y. Hu