Vasilis Teodoridis:
Aquifoliaceae | Ilex
134. Ilex corallina Franchet; Bull. Soc. Bot. France. 33: 452. 1886.
???? shan hu dong qing
Shrubs or trees; evergreen; 3-10 m tall. Branchlets brownish; terete; slender; longitudinally angular; glabrous or puberulent; third year’s branchlets with small lenticels and slightly raised; narrow; deltoid leaf scars; terminal buds ovoid; small; glabrous or puberulent. Petiole purple-red; (1-)4-10 mm; abaxially transversely rugose; adaxially shallowly sulcate; glabrous or puberulent; leaf blade abaxially greenish; adaxially deep green; ovate; ovate-elliptic; ovate-lanceolate; or oblong; 4-10(-13) x 1.5-3(-5) cm; leathery; both surfaces glabrous or midvein sparsely puberulent adaxially; midvein impressed adaxially; lateral veins 7-10 pairs; raised on both surfaces; reticulate veins evident on both surfaces; base rounded or obtuse; margin undulate; crenate-serrate; rarely tips of teeth spiny; apex acuminate or acute. Inflorescences: cymes; fasciculate; axillary on second year’s branchlets; peduncle subsessile; bracts ovate-deltoid; ciliate; flowers yellow-green; 4-merous. Male inflorescences: cymes of order 1 or 2; 1-3-flowered; peduncles ca. 1 mm; pedicels ca. 2 mm; bracteoles 2; basal; ovate; ciliate; calyx patelliform; ca. 2 mm in diam.; deeply 4-lobed; lobes ovate-deltoid; ciliate; corolla 6-7 mm in diam.; petals oblong; ca. 3 x 1.5 mm; basally slightly connate; stamens ca. as long as petals; anthers oblong; ca. 1 mm; rudimentary ovary subglobose; apex rounded; minutely 4-lobed. Female inflorescences: 1-flowered cymes; pedicels 1-2 mm; bracteoles 2; basal; ovate-deltoid; calyx lobes orbicular; ciliate; petals free; ovate; ca. 2 x 1.2 mm; staminodes ca. 2/3 as long as petals; sterile anthers sagittate; ovary ovoid; ca. 1.5 mm; ca. 1 mm in diam.; apex subtruncate; stigma thinly discoid. Fruit purple-red; subglobose or ellipsoid; 3-5 mm in diam.; persistent stigma thinly discoid; 4-lobed; persistent calyx explanate; pyrenes 4; ellipsoidal-trigonous; 2-2.5(-5) mm; 1.5(-2) mm in diam.; abaxially obscurely palmately striate and sulcate; laterally striate or rugose. Fl. Feb-May; fr. Sep-Oct.
? Forests; mixed forests; shrubby areas; mountain slopes; (400-)700-2400(-3000) m. Chongqing; S Gansu (Wenxian); Guizhou; Hubei; Hunan; Sichuan; Yunnan.