Ilex emarginata Thunberg in Murray, Syst. Veg., ed. 14, 168. 1784; Eurya littoralis Siebold & Zuccarini.

Shrubs 1-2 m tall. Young branches grayish brown, glabrous or subglabrous; current year branchlets reddish brown, terete, rarely slightly 2-ribbed, densely yellowish brown pubescent; terminal buds pubescent to subglabrous. Petiole 2-3 mm, glabrous; leaf blade obovate to obovate-lanceolate, 2-3 × 1.2-1.8 cm, thickly leathery, abaxially pale green to yellowish green, adaxially green, both surfaces glabrous, midvein abaxially elevated and adaxially impressed, secondary veins 5 or 6 on each side of midvein and slender, secondary and reticulate veins abaxially slightly raised and adaxially impressed, base cuneate, margin serrulate and slightly revolute, apex rounded and retuse. Flowers axillary, solitary or paired. Pedicel ca. 2 mm, glabrous. Male flowers: bracteoles suborbicular; sepals suborbicular, 1-1.5 mm, subleathery, glabrous, apex rounded and with a mucronate tip; petals oblong to oblong-obovate, ca. 3.5 mm; stamens ca. 20; anthers locellate; pistillode glabrous. Female flowers: bracteoles and sepals similar to those of male flower; petals ovate, ca. 3 mm; ovary globose, glabrous, 3-loculed; style ca. 1 mm, apically 3-lobed. Fruit black when mature, globose, 3-4 mm in diam. Fl. Oct-Nov, fr. Jun-Aug. 2n = 84.

Thickets on mountain slopes, rock crevices along seacoasts. E Fujian, Taiwan, E Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].