假枝冬青 jia zhi dong qing

Ilex corallina Franchet var. wangiana (S. Y. Hu) Y. R. Li.

Shrubs evergreen, ca. 3 m tall. Branchlets, petioles, leaf midvein, inflorescences, ovary, and fruit pubescent. Branchlets gray-black, terete, slender, longitudinally plicate-striate; terminal buds conical, bud scales densely pubescent. Petiole 5-7 mm, abaxially rugose, adaxially shallowly sulcate; leaf blade abaxially greenish, adaxially dark green, ovate-elliptic, 4-7 × 1.3-2.5 cm, leathery, abaxially sparsely pubescent, adaxially glabrous except on midvein, midvein impressed and pubescent adaxially, lateral veins 7 or 8 pairs, evident abaxially, obscure adaxially, reticulate veins obscure, base obtuse or rounded, margin crenate-serrate, teeth black, apex shortly acuminate. Flowers not known. Infructescences: 1-fruited cymes, fasciculate, axillary on second year’s branchlets; bracts ovate-deltoid, pubescent, ciliate; fruiting pedicels 2-3 mm, pubescent; bracteoles 2, subbasal, lanceolate, pubescent, ciliate. Fruit red, globose, 3-4 mm in diam., pubescent; persistent calyx explanate, quadrangular; persistent stigma thickly discoid or capitate; pyrenes 4, subglobose, 2-2.5 mm, 1.5-1.7 mm in diam., abaxially smooth or slightly depressed, obscurely palmately striate, laterally rugose and sulcate, endocarp stony. Fl. unknown, fr. Oct.

● Shrubby areas on mountain slopes; 1800-2000 m. NW Yunnan (Lancang Jiang valley, Weixi).