Ilex lohfauensis Merr.

Shrubs or trees, evergreen, 2-6 m tall. Branchlets gray-black or dark castaneous, slender, densely pubescent; old branchlets with lenticels nearly absent; leaf scars semicircular, convex; terminal buds narrowly conical, densely pubescent. Stipules persistent, narrowly deltoid, ca. 1 mm, densely pubescent; petiole 1-2 mm, densely pubescent, flat or shallowly sulcate adaxially; leaf blade abaxially greenish, adaxially deep green, shiny, oblong or elliptic, rarely obovate or rhombic, 1-2.5 × 0.5-1.2 cm, thinly leathery or papery, both surfaces glabrous except on midvein, midvein pubescent on both surfaces, lateral veins 7-9 pairs, slightly evident on both surfaces, reticulate veins obscure on both surfaces, base cuneate, margin entire, slightly reflexed, apex retuse. Inflorescences: cymes, fasciculate, axillary on second year’s branchlets, pubescent; bracts deltoid, pubescent. Male inflorescences: cymes of order 1 or 2, 1-3-flowered; peduncles ca. 1 mm; pedicels ca. 1 mm; flowers pink, 4(or 5)-merous; calyx patelliform, ca. 1.5 mm in diam., pubescent, shallowly 4-lobed, lobes orbicular, margin erose, ciliate; corolla rotate, ca. 4.5 mm in diam., petals elliptic, basally slightly connate, not ciliate; stamens ca. 1/2 as long as petals, anthers oblong; rudimentary ovary rostellate. Female inflorescences: 1-flowered cymes, fascicles 2- or 3-flowered; pedicels ca. 1 mm, bracteoles 2, above middle; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; staminodes ca. 3/4 as long as petals, sterile anthers cordate; ovary ovoid, ca. 0.7 mm in diam.; style evident, stigma discoid, convex. Fruit red, globose, ca. 3.5 mm in diam.; fruiting pedicel ca. 1 mm, pubescent; persistent calyx cup-shaped, pubescent, ciliate; persistent stigma thickly discoid or capitate, 4(or 5)-lobed; pyrenes 4, broadly ellipsoidal, ca. 3 mm, ca. 2 mm in diam., both ends acute, cross section trigonous, abaxially 3-striate, not sulcate, laterally smooth, endocarp leathery. Fl. Apr-Aug, fr. Aug-Dec.

S Anhui (Qimen, Xiuning), Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang.

● Evergreen broad-leaved forests, sparse forests, shrub forests, mountain slopes; (100-)200-1000(-1300) m.

Ilex hanceana Maximowicz var. anhweiensis Loesener; I. hanceana var. lohfauensis (Merrill) Chun.