华南冬青 hua nan dong qing

Ilex suaveolens (H. Léveillé) Loesener var. sterrophylla (Merrill & Chun) H. T. Chang.

Trees evergreen, ca. 15 m tall; trunk to 70 cm d.b.h. Branchlets subterete, plicate; lenticels numerous, circular or deltoid; terminal buds ovoid, scales densely ciliate. Petiole 1.5-2.5 cm, adaxially flat, upper half evidently winged by decurrent leaf base; leaf blade olivaceous or brown when dry, ovate or elliptic, 5-8 × 2-4 cm, leathery, midvein raised adaxially, lateral veins 8-10 pairs, obscure on both surfaces, base cuneate or subrounded, margin entire, very rarely with 1 or 2 obscure teeth, apex acuminate, acumen 5-10 mm. Inflorescences: cymes, solitary, axillary on current year’s branchlets, glabrous. Male inflorescences: cymes of order 3 or 4, 5-13-flowered; peduncles 1.5-3 cm; secondary axis 1-2 mm; bracts subulate, ca. 1.2 mm; pedicels 3-5 mm; calyx patelliform, 4- or 5-lobed, lobes rounded or deltoid, glabrous, ciliate; corolla white, petals oblong-obovate, basally slightly connate; stamens 4 or 5, shorter than petals, anthers oblong, ca. 1 mm; rudimentary ovary ovoid, ca. 1 mm, rostellate, apex shallowly 4-lobed. Female inflorescences: cymes of order 2, 3-flowered; peduncles 1.2-3.3 cm; pedicels 5-8 mm; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; staminodes ca. 3/4 as long as petals, sterile anthers sagittate; ovary ovoid, ca. 2 mm in diam., stigma thickly discoid. Fruit red, oblong, 7-9 mm; persistent calyx explanate, ca. 3 mm in diam., rounded, ciliate; persistent stigma thickly discoid; pyrenes 4, oblong, 5-6 mm, ca. 3 mm in diam., abaxially shallowly concave, smooth, not striate, endocarp leathery. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Sep-Oct.

Dense mountain forests; 500-1600 m. Guangdong (Yaoshan), S Guangxi (Shangsi), Hainan [Vietnam].