Vasilis Teodoridis:
Aquifoliaceae | Ilex
42. Ilex crenata Thunberg in Murray; Syst. Veg.; ed. 14. 168. 1784.
???? chi ye dong qing
Celastrus adenophyllus Miquel; Ilex crenata var. aureovariegata Goldring; Ilex crenata f. bullata Rehder; I. crenata f. helleri (Craig) Rehder; I. crenata var. helleri (Craig) L. H. Bailey; I. crenata f. kusnetzoffii Loesener; I. crenata f. latifolia (Goldring) Rehder; I. crenata var. latifolia Goldring; I. crenata f. longifolia (Goldring) Rehder; I. crenata var. longifolia Goldring; I. crenata f. longipedunculata S. Y. Hu; I. crenata f. luteovariegata (Regel) Rehder; I. crenata var. luteovariegata Regel; I. crenata var. major G. Nicholson ex Dallimore; ?I. crenata var. mariesii Dallimore; I. crenata f. microphylla Rehder; I. crenata f. multicrenata (C. J. Tseng) S. K. Chen; I. crenata var. multicrenata C. J. Tseng; I. crenata f. nummularia (Yatabe) H. Hara; I. crenata var. nummularia Yatabe; ?I. crenata f. variegata G. Nicholson; ?I. crenata var. variegata (G. Nicholson) Dallimore; I. euryifolia K. Mori & Yamamoto; I. helleri Craig.
Shrubs evergreen; 5-10 m tall; bark gray-black. Young branchlets gray or black; longitudinally angular; densely pubescent; older branchlets with leaf scars raised lunate; lenticels sparsely elliptic or circular. Stipules subulate; minute; petiole 2-3 mm; sulcate; pubescent; leaf blade abaxially greenish; adaxially green; shiny; obovate; elliptic; or oblong-elliptic; 1-3.5 x 0.5-1.5 cm; leathery; abaxially glabrous; densely brown glandular punctate; adaxially glabrous except on midvein; rugose when dry; midvein adaxially flat or slightly impressed; pubescent; lateral veins 3-5 pairs; obscure; reticulate veins indistinct; base obtuse or cuneate; margin crenate-serrate; apex rounded; obtuse; or subacute. Male inflorescences: cymes of order 1-3; 1-7-flowered; solitary; axillary on scales or lower leaves of current year’s branchlets; rarely pseudofasciculate on second year’s branchlets; peduncles 4-9 mm; secondary axis ca. 1 mm; pedicels 2-3 mm; bracteoles 1 or 2; subbasal; 1-flowered pedicels 4-8 mm; bracteoles 1 or 2; submedian; flowers white; 4-merous; calyx patelliform; ca. 2 mm in diam.; glabrous; 4-lobed; lobes broadly deltoid; margin erose; petals 4; broadly elliptic; ca. 2 mm; basally slightly connate; stamens shorter than petals; anthers elliptic; rudimentary ovary conical; apex slightly apiculate or acute. Female inflorescences: cymes of order 1(or 2); 1(-3)-flowered; solitary; axillary on current year’s branchlets; pedicels 3.5-6(-12) mm; distal half slightly thickened; longitudinally ridged; bracteoles 1 or 2; submedian; flowers 4-merous; calyx ca. 3 mm in diam.; 4-lobed; lobes rounded; corolla ca. 6 mm in diam.; petals ovate; ca. 3 mm; basally slightly connate; staminodes ca. 1/2 as long as petals; sterile anthers sagittate; ovary ovoid; ca. 2 mm; style sometimes distinct; stigma discoid; 4-lobed. Fruit black; globose; 6-8 mm in diam.; fruiting pedicel 4-6 mm; persistent calyx explanate; ca. 3 mm in diam.; persistent stigma thickly discoid; ca. 1 mm in diam.; conspicuously 4-lobed; pyrenes 4; oblong-ellipsoidal; ca. 5 mm; 3-3.5 mm in diam.; abaxially smooth; striate; not sulcate; endocarp leathery. Fl. May-Jun; fr. Aug-Oct.
Forests; thickets on hills or mountains; 700-2100 m. Anhui; Fujian; Guangdong; Guangxi; Hainan; Hubei; Hunan; Jiangsu; Jiangxi; Taiwan; Shandong (Qingdao); Zhejiang [Japan; Korea].