短叶冬青 duan ye dong qing

Ilex ficoidea Hemsley var. brachyphylla Handel-Mazzetti, Symb. Sin. 7: 658. 1933.

Trees evergreen, small, 4-15 m tall. Branchlets castaneous, terete, longitudinally angular and sulcate, glabrous, lenticels absent; terminal buds lanceolate, bud scales glabrous, ciliate. Petiole 6-9 mm, abaxially plicate-rugose, adaxially deeply sulcate, glabrous throughout; leaf blade green, oblong-ovate, 5-9 × 2-3.5 cm, leathery, both surfaces glabrous, midvein narrowly impressed adaxially, lateral veins 6 or 7 pairs, evident abaxially, obscure adaxially, base rounded or obtuse, margin serrate, apex acuminate or abruptly acuminate, acumen 1-1.2 cm. Male inflorescences: cymes of order 1(or 2), 1(-3)-flowered, fasciculate, axillary on second and third year’s branchlets; persistent bud scales ovate, ca. 2 mm in diam., apex obtuse; bracts ovate-deltoid, ca. 2 mm, membranous, apex obtuse, with 2 stipulelike appendages, ciliate; peduncles ca. 1 mm, pubescent; pedicels 1-3 mm, pubescent; bracteoles 2, median, submedian, or rarely close to calyx, ovate, strongly keeled, apex obtuse, ciliate; flowers yellowish, 4-merous; calyx patelliform, ca. 2.5 mm in diam., glabrous, deeply 4-lobed, lobes suborbicular or broadly ovate, ca. 1 × 1 mm, ciliate; corolla 8-9 mm in diam., petals 4, oblong, ca. 3.5 mm, basally slightly connate, apex sparsely ciliate; stamens ca. as long as or slightly longer than petals, anthers oblong; rudimentary ovary globose, ca. 1 mm in diam., densely puberulent on apical half. Female flowers and fruit not known. Fl. Apr, fr. unknown.

● Forests on mountain slopes; 800-1300 m. SW Hunan (Wugang).