Ilex dipyrena Wall.

The ‘Himalayan Holly’ is occassionally found in moist shady places (as ravines in forests etc.) from 1700-3100m. The attractive scarlet-red fruits along with the twigs are sometimes sold as decorations during the Christmas season.

A small to medium sized tree. Bark dark grey and rough. Shoots and twigs puberulous, glabrate. Leaves alternate, elliptic-lanceolate, 6.5-12 x 2.6-3.7 cm, coriaceous, margin spinose, thickened and slightly revolute, sometimes entire (in older leaves), subacuminate, midrib prominent on undersurface, impressed above, lamina glabrous and shiny above. Petiole 2-4 mm long, minutely pubescent. Flowers bi- or unisexual, in axillary globose clusters, whitish-green, 4-merous, bracteoles 2, triangular ovate, ± 1 mm long, pubescent. Petals obovate, connate at the base, free in the female flowers. Stamens adnate basally to the petals. Ovary ovoid, stigma sessile. Drupe globose, 10-12 mm broad, red-scarlet; pyrenes 2, plano-concave, 6 x 5mm, back deeply ribbed.

Shrubs or trees, evergreen, 2-15(-25) m tall; bark gray-black, slightly longitudinally fissured. Branchlets striate, puberulent or glabrescent; old branches gray-yellow, thick and strong, smooth or minutely fissured, lenticels obscure, leaf scars semicircular. Petiole 3-6 mm, abaxially rugose, adaxially sulcate and pubescent; leaf blade abaxially greenish, adaxially deep green, shiny, elliptic-oblong, elliptic, or ovate-elliptic, rarely ovate, 4-10 × 2-4 cm, thickly leathery, both surfaces glabrous, midvein impressed, puberulent or glabrescent adaxially, lateral veins 6-9 pairs, raised abaxially, impressed adaxially, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin entire or subentire with 3-14 spines per side, apex shortly acuminate to acuminate, with a sharp spine. Inflorescences: 1-flowered cymes, fasciculate, axillary on second year’s branchlets; bracts ovate-lanceolate, ciliate; flowers greenish, 4-merous. Male inflorescences: pedicels 2-3 mm, sparsely puberulent or glabrescent; bracteoles basal, lanceolate, ca. 1.5 mm; calyx discoid, ca. 3 mm in diam., deeply lobed, lobes ovate-deltoid, sparsely ciliate, apex acute or obtuse; corolla rotate, ca. 7 mm in diam., petals ovate, ca. 3 mm, ciliate, basally slightly connate; stamens 4, longer than petals, anthers oblong-ovoid; rudimentary ovary ovoid, ca. 1.5 mm in diam., apex obtuse or truncate. Female inflorescences: pedicels 1-3 mm, sparsely puberulent or glabrescent; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; staminodes slightly shorter than petals, sterile anthers subcordate or sagittate; ovary ovoid, stigma discoid, lobed. Fruit red, globose, 7-9 mm in diam.; persistent calyx quadrangular; persistent stigma discoid, 2-4-lobed; pyrenes (1 or)2(-4), when 2 pyrenes: oblong-ellipsoidal or subglobose, 5-7 mm, ca. 5 mm in diam., abaxially palmately striate and sulcate, adaxially striate-sulcate; when 4 pyrenes: oblong, ca. 3.5 mm in diam.; endocarp woody. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. Jun-Dec. 2n = 40.

Himalaya (Punjab to NEFA), N. Assam, N. Burma, W. China.

Distribution: The Himalayas from the Indus eastwards to Bhutan.

SW Hubei, SW Sichuan (Muli), SE Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, N India, N Myanmar, Nepal].

2500-3000 m

Fl. Per.: April-June.

Evergreen broad-leaved forests, mixed forests, shrubby areas, valleys, roadsides; 2000-3400 m.

Ilex bioritsensis Hayata var. integra H. F. Comber; I. dipyrena var. connexiva W. W. Smith; I. dipyrena var. paucispinosa Loesener; I. monopyrena G. Watt ex Loesener.

Ilex dipyrena là một loài thực vật có hoa trong họ Aquifoliaceae. Loài này được Wall. mô tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1820.

双核枸骨（学名：Ilex dipyrena）为冬青科冬青属的植物。分布在缅甸、尼泊尔、锡金、印度以及中国大陆的四川、西藏、湖北、云南等地，生长于海拔2,000米至3,400米的地区，常生长在山谷及箐边常绿阔叶林下，目前尚未由人工引种栽培。