Vasilis Teodoridis:
Aquifoliaceae | Ilex
37. Ilex godajam (Colebrooke) J. D. Hooker; Fl. Brit. India. 1: 604. 1875.
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Prinos godajam Colebrooke in Wallich; Pl. Asiat. Rar. 3: 38. 1832; Ilex capitellata Pierre; I. godajam f. capitellata (Pierre) Loesener; I. rotunda Thunberg var. piligera Loesener.
Shrubs or trees; evergreen; 5-13 m tall; bark gray-white. Branchlets gray; zigzag; subterete; with rounded; raised lenticels and subcircular; raised leaf scars; glabrescent; current year’s young branchlets longitudinally striate; densely puberulent; terminal buds ovoid; small; poorly developed; densely puberulent or glabrous. Stipules subulate-deltoid; minute; puberulent; petiole 1-1.5 cm; puberulent; longitudinally sulcate adaxially; leaf blade abaxially greenish; adaxially green to deep green; shiny; ovate or oblong; 4.5-8 x 2.5-4 cm; thinly leathery; when young thinly papery; and puberulent on midvein and near base; glabrescent; midvein impressed adaxially; lateral veins 7-9 pairs; raised abaxially; distinct adaxially; anastomosing near margin; reticulate veins evident abaxially; indistinct adaxially; base rounded; margin entire; apex obtuse-rounded or shortly deltoid-acuminate. Inflorescences: cymes of order 2-5; umbelliform; solitary; axillary on current year’s branchlets; often appearing paniculate when shoot fails to develop; peduncles and pedicels densely puberulent; flowers white-yellow; 4-6-merous. Male inflorescences: cymes of order 4 or 5; 8-23-flowered; peduncles (1-)1.4-1.8 cm; pedicels 2-4 mm; bracteoles subulate; basal; puberulent; calyx patelliform; ca. 2.5 mm in diam.; puberulent; deeply 4- or 5-lobed; lobes ovate; margin erose; ciliate; corolla rotate; petals 4; oblong; ca. 2 mm; basally slightly connate; stamens ca. as long as petals; anthers ovoid; rudimentary ovary globose; rostellate. Female inflorescences: cymes of order 2-4; 3-13-flowered; peduncles 1-1.4 cm; bracts basal; deltoid; densely puberulent; pedicels 2-5 mm; bracteoles basal; deltoid; calyx as in male flowers; petals elliptic; ca. 2 mm; staminodes not seen; ovary ovoid; stigma capitate. Fruit red; globose; ca. 4 mm in diam.; persistent calyx explanate; ca. 2.5 mm in diam.; ciliate; persistent stigma discoid; convex; pyrenes 5 or 6; ellipsoidal; 2-2.5 mm; ca. 1.5 mm in diam.; abaxially 3-striate and 2-sulcate; endocarp woody. Fl. Jan; Apr-May; fr. May; Aug-Sep. 2n = 40*.
Sparse forests; thickets on mountain slopes; 300-1000 m. Guangxi; Hainan; Hunan; Yunnan [Bhutan; NE India; Laos; Myanmar; Nepal; N Vietnam].