大叶冬青 da ye dong qing

Ilex latifolia var. tarajo (Göppert) Lavallée; Ilex tarajo Göppert.

Trees evergreen, to 20 m tall, ca. 60 cm d.b.h., glabrous throughout; bark gray-black, smooth. Branches yellow-brown or brown, strong, longitudinally ridged and sulcate, smooth; leaf scars evidently raised, broadly discoid or semicircular. Leaves on first to third year’s branchlets; stipules broadly deltoid, very minute, apically acute; petiole subterete, 1.5-2.5 cm, ca. 3 mm in diam., abaxially rugose, adaxially slightly impressed; leaf blade abaxially greenish, adaxially deep green, shiny, oblong or ovate-oblong, 8-19(-28) × 4.5-7.5(-9) cm, thickly leathery, midvein impressed adaxially, lateral veins 12-17 pairs, obscure abaxially, obvious adaxially, base rounded or broadly cuneate, margin sparsely serrate, teeth black at tips, apex obtuse or shortly acuminate. Inflorescences: cymes, pseudopaniculate or pseudoracemose, axillary on second year’s branchlets; rachis 1-2 cm; bud scales persistent, rounded, imbricate; flowers yellowish green, 4-merous. Male inflorescences: cymes of order 2-4, 3-9-flowered, pseudopaniculate; peduncles ca. 2 mm; bracts ovate or lanceolate, 5-7 × 3-5 mm; pedicels 6-8 mm; bracteoles 1 or 2, deltoid; calyx subcupuliform, ca. 3.5 mm in diam., 4-lobed, lobes orbicular; corolla rotate, ca. 9 mm in diam., petals ovate-oblong, ca. 3.5 × 2.5 mm, basally connate; stamens ca. as long as petals, anthers ovoid-oblong; rudimentary ovary subglobose, apex 4-lobed. Female inflorescences: cymes of order 1 or 2, 1-3-flowered, pseudopaniculate or pseudoracemose; peduncles ca. 2 mm; 1-flowered pedicels 5-8 mm; bracteoles 1 or 2; calyx patelliform, ca. 3 mm in diam.; corolla erect, ca. 5 mm in diam., petals 4, ovate, ca. 3 × 2 mm; staminodes ca. 1/3 as long as petals, sterile anthers ovoid, minute; ovary ovoid, ca. 2 mm in diam., stigma discoid, 4-lobed. Fruit red, globose, ca. 7 mm in diam.; persistent stigma thinly discoid; persistent calyx explanate, discoid; exocarp thick, smooth; pyrenes 4, oblong-ellipsoidal, ca. 5 mm, ca. 2.5 mm in diam., abaxially irregularly rugose and pitted, with distinct longitudinal ridges, endocarp stony. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Sep-Oct.

Evergreen broad-leaved forests, shrub forests, bamboo forests; 200-1500 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan].