薄叶冬青 bo ye dong qing

Ilex burmanica Merrill; I. fragilis f. kingii Loesener; I. fragilis f. subcoriacea C. J. Tseng; I. opienensis S. Y. Hu.

Shrubs or small trees, deciduous, 3-5 m tall. Branchlets castaneous, glabrous; older branchlets subterete, longitudinally striate-sulcate, lenticels conspicuous, ovate or orbicular, raised; spur branchlets 1-1.5 cm, very rugose, with persistent leaf scars and bud scales; terminal buds ovoid, bud scales ovate, ciliate. Stipules deltoid, minute; petiole purplish, 5-15 mm, glabrous; leaf blade abaxially greenish, adaxially deep green, ovate or elliptic, 4-8 × 3-5 cm, membranous, papery, or subleathery, both surfaces glabrous or hirsute-pubescent, midvein impressed adaxially, lateral veins 8-10 pairs, reticulate veins evident only abaxially, base rounded to obtuse, margin serrate, apex acuminate. Male inflorescences: 1-flowered cymes, fasciculate or solitary, axillary on scales or basal leaves; pedicels 3-6 mm, glabrous; flowers 6-8-merous; calyx patelliform, ca. 4 mm in diam., deeply lobed, lobes unequal in shape and size, often ovate or deltoid-ovate to broadly ovate, ciliate; petals yellow-green, oblong, 2-2.5 × ca. 1.5 mm, basally slightly connate; stamens ca. 1/2 as long as petals; rudimentary ovary pulvinate, depressed at center. Female inflorescences: 1-flowered cymes, solitary, axillary on scales, rarely to leaves; pedicels 2-3 mm, glabrous; flowers 6-8(-16)-merous; calyx patelliform, ca. 4 mm in diam., deeply lobed, lobes ovate to broadly ovate, ciliate; petals as in male flowers; staminodes ca. 1/3 as long as petals, sterile anthers cordate; ovary depressed globose, style present, ca. 1.5 mm, stigma capitate or crested. Fruit red, depressed globose, 4-6 mm in diam.; persistent calyx explanate; persistent stigma discoid; fruiting pedicel ca. 5 mm; pyrenes 6-8(-13), ellipsoidal, 2-2.5 mm, ca. 1.5 mm in diam., abaxially longitudinally striate, laterally striate or not, endocarp woody. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Sep-Oct. n = 18, 2n = 36.

Sparse forests, broad-leaved, Tsuga, or shrub forests, mountains, grazing land; 1500-3000 m. Guizhou (Weining), Sichuan, S and SE Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, N Myanmar, Nepal].

Further research is needed on the distributional range of this taxon.