Vasilis Teodoridis:
Aquifoliaceae | Ilex
199. Ilex asprella (Hooker & Arnott) Champion ex Bentham; Hooker’s J. Bot. Kew Gard. Misc. 4: 329. 1852.
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Shrubs deciduous; ca. 3 m tall. Branchlets castaneous; slender; glabrous; lenticels light colored; spur branchlets rugose; with persistent scales and leaf scars. Stipules persistent; deltoid; minute; petiole 3-8 mm; abaxially subrounded; glabrous; adaxially sulcate; leaf blade abaxially greenish; adaxially green; ovate or ovate-elliptic; (3-)4-6(-8) x (1.5-)2-3.5 cm; membranous; abaxially glabrous; adaxially puberulent; midvein impressed adaxially; lateral veins 5 or 6 pairs; raised abaxially; flat adaxially; anastomosing near margin; reticulate veins evident on both surfaces; base obtuse to subrounded; margin serrate; apex caudate-acuminate; acumen (3-)6-10(-15) mm. Male inflorescences: 1-flowered cymes; solitary or fasciculate; fascicles 2-5-flowered; axillary on leaves or scales; pedicels 4-6(-9) mm; flowers white; 4- or 5-merous; calyx patelliform; 2.5-3 mm in diam.; glabrous; 4- or 5-lobed; lobes broadly deltoid or orbicular; margin erose; ciliate; corolla rotate; ca. 6 mm in diam.; petals suborbicular; ca. 2 mm in diam.; basally slightly connate; rarely ciliate; stamens ca. 3/4 as long as petals; filaments ca. 1.5 mm; anthers oblong; ca. 1 mm; rudimentary ovary pulvinate; rostellate. Female inflorescences: 1-flowered cymes; solitary; axillary on leaves or scales; pedicels 1-2 cm; glabrous; flowers 4-6-merous; calyx deeply 4-6-lobed; ca. 3 mm in diam.; lobes ciliate; corolla rotate; petals suborbicular; ca. 2 mm in diam.; basally slightly connate; staminodes ca. 1 mm; sterile anthers sagittate; ovary ovoid; ca. 1.5 mm in diam.; style present; stigma thickly discoid. Fruit black; globose or ellipsoidal; 5-7(-8) mm in diam.; longitudinally striate and sulcate; fruiting pedicel 2-3 cm; persistent calyx explanate; lobes ciliate; persistent stigma capitate or thickly discoid; style evident; pyrenes 4-6; obovoid-ellipsoidal; ca. 5(or 8) mm; ca. 2(or 3) mm in diam.; abaxially 3-striate and sulcate; laterally striate; nearly smooth or sulcate; adaxial keel sharp; endocarp stony. Fl. Mar; fr. Apr-Oct.
Sparse forests on slopes; shrubby areas; roadsides; 400-1000 m. Fujian; Guangdong; Guangxi; Hunan; Jiangxi; Taiwan; Zhejiang [Philippines; ?Vietnam].