太平山冬青 tai ping shan dong qing

Ilex pedunculosa Miquel var. taiwanensis S. Y. Hu; I. sugerokii subsp. brevipedunculata (Maximowicz) Makino; I. sugerokii var. brevipedunculata (Maximowicz) S. Y. Hu; I. taisanensis Hayata; I. taiwanensis (S. Y. Hu) H. L. Li.

Shrubs or small trees, evergreen, ca. 5 m tall. Young branchlets longitudinally angular and sulcate, puberulent; old branchlets glabrescent, with suborbicular, convex leaf scars and elliptic lenticels. Petiole 4-7 mm, flat adaxially, puberulent; leaf blade abaxially greenish, adaxially green, shiny, elliptic or ovate-elliptic, 2-3.5 × 1-2.5 cm, thickly leathery, abaxially glabrous, adaxially glabrous except on midvein, midvein flat abaxially, raised adaxially, lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs, obscure on both surfaces, base obtuse or broadly cuneate, margin entire in lower half, sparsely serrate in upper half, apex obtuse or acute. Inflorescences: cymes, solitary, axillary on current year’s branchlets. Male inflorescences: cymes of order 2, 3-flowered; peduncles ca. 1 cm; pedicels 2-5 mm; bracteoles 1, adnate apically on pedicels, puberulent; calyx patelliform, ca. 2.5 mm in diam., deeply 4-6-lobed, lobes deltoid, long ciliate; corolla white, rotate, 5-6 mm in diam., petals oblong, slightly connate; stamens shorter than petals; rudimentary ovary ovoid, rostellate. Female inflorescences: 1-flowered cymes; pedicels 1.2-1.5 cm; bracteoles 1 or 2, submedian; calyx deeply 4-6-lobed, lobes long ciliate; petals oblong; staminodes ca. 3/4 as long as petals, sterile anthers oblong-sagittate; ovary ovoid, stigma discoid. Fruit dark red, globose, 7-8 mm in diam.; fruiting pedicel 1.3-1.5 cm, glabrous; persistent calyx explanate, ca. 3 mm in diam., ciliate; persistent stigma discoid; pyrenes 4-6, oblong, ca. 3.5 mm, ca. 2 mm in diam., abaxially smooth, not striate, not sulcate, endocarp leathery. Fl. Jul, fr. Aug-Oct.

Mountain forests; ca. 2200 m. Sichuan, C and N Taiwan [Japan].

Ilex sugerokii f. longipedunculata Maximowicz, with longer fruiting pedicels (2-3.5 cm), occurs in Japan.