Ilex glomerata King

Trees evergreen, ca. 13 m tall, ca. 30 cm d.b.h. Young branchlets slender, longitudinally ridged and sulcate, glabrous or glabrescent; terminal buds narrowly conical, bud scales glabrous, ciliate. Stipules very minute, obscure; petiole 8-15 mm, abaxially raised, transversely rugose, adaxially narrowly sulcate, glabrous; leaf blade olivaceous or brownish olivaceous when dry, shiny, oblong or oblong-elliptic, rarely ovate-elliptic, 6-12 × 2-4 cm, subleathery, both surfaces glabrous, midvein impressed and glabrous adaxially, lateral veins 8-10 pairs, raised abaxially, evident adaxially, obliquely ascending, reticulate veins obscure, base obtuse, cuneate, or rarely rounded, margin serrate, apex acuminate, acumen 8-15 mm. Inflorescences: cymes, fasciculate, axillary on second year’s branchlets; bracts ovate, ciliate. Male inflorescences: cymes of order 1 or 2, 1-3-flowered; peduncles ca. 1 mm; pedicels 1-2 mm; bracteoles 2, basal, deltoid, ciliate; flowers 4-merous; calyx patelliform, ca. 2 mm in diam., deeply 4-lobed, lobes deltoid or suborbicular, ciliate; corolla 7-8 mm in diam., petals oblong, ca. 3.5 × 2 mm, basally slightly connate; stamens ca. as long as petals, anthers oblong, ca. 1 mm; rudimentary ovary subglobose, apex obtuse or subglobose. Female flowers not known. Infructescences: 1-fruited cymes; fruiting pedicels 1-3 mm. Fruit red, globose, 7-8 mm in diam.; persistent calyx explanate, ca. 2 mm in diam., ciliate; persistent stigma flattened, discoid or navel-like; pyrenes 4, oblong or subglobose, 5.5-7 mm, 4-5 mm in diam., both ends obtuse or rounded, abaxially palmately striate and sulcate, laterally reticulate, rugose and pitted, endocarp stony. Fl. Apr-May, fr. Sep-Nov.

Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan [Malaysia, Myanmar, Vietnam].

Evergreen broad-leaved forests, forest margins, shrubby areas, mountain slopes; 200-900 m.

Ilex glomerata is a tree or shrub in the family Aquifoliaceae. It grows up to 20 metres (70 ft). The flowers are yellow green or yellow. The fruits are round, red, up to 1 cm (0.4 in) in diameter. The specific epithet glomerata is from the Latin meaning "closely gathered", referring to the flowers. Habitat is forests from sea level to 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) altitude. I. glomerata is found in Burma, Sumatra, Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo.