Ilex subficoidea S. Y. Hu

Trees evergreen, 8-15 m tall. Branchlets terete, longitudinally ridged, glabrous, with deltoid or ovate leaf scars, lenticels absent. Leaves on first to second year’s branchlets; petiole 5-12 mm, adaxially sulcate, narrowly distally winged; leaf blade adaxially green, shiny, ovate or oblong-elliptic, 5-12 × 2-3 cm, leathery, both surfaces glabrous, midvein impressed adaxially, lateral veins 10 or 11 pairs, raised abaxially, obscure adaxially, reticulate veins obscure on both surfaces, base obtuse, rarely rounded, margin undulate and obtusely serrate, slightly revolute, apex abruptly acuminate. Inflorescences: cymes, fasciculate, axillary on second year’s branchlets; flowers white, 4-merous. Male inflorescences: cymes of order 2, 3-flowered; bracts broadly ovate, ciliate, basal appendages stipulelike; peduncles ca. 1 mm; pedicels ca. 2 mm, pubescent or glabrescent; calyx patelliform, ca. 5 mm in diam., lobes sparsely ciliate; corolla 6-7 mm in diam., petals 4, obovate-oblong, ca. 3 mm, sparsely ciliate, basally connate; stamens slightly longer than petals, anthers ovoid, ca. 0.75 mm; rudimentary ovary conical, apex obtuse. Female flowers not known. Infructescences: 1-fruited cymes; fruiting pedicels ca. 1 cm; bracteoles 2, basal or subbasal. Fruit globose, 1-1.2 cm in diam., densely tuberculate; persistent calyx 2.5-3 mm in diam., 4-lobed, lobes orbicular, ciliate; persistent stigma thinly discoid, 4-lobed; pyrenes 4, ovoid-ellipsoidal, 8-9 mm, 5-7 mm in diam., irregularly rugose and pitted, endocarp stony. Fl. Jan-May, fr. Jun-Dec.

Fujian (Nanjing), Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, S Hunan (Yizhang), Jiangxi (Quannan) [N Vietnam].

Mixed forests, hills; 400-1400 m.