Ilex wardii Merr.

Shrubs evergreen, ca. 2 m tall. Branchlets gray, terete, thick, puberulent, longitudinally angular and rugose; leaf scars semicircular or crescent-shaped, convex; lenticels absent; terminal buds globose-conical, puberulent. Stipules persistent, narrowly deltoid, ca. 1 mm; petiole 5-7 mm, abaxially glabrous, adaxially longitudinally sulcate, puberulent; leaf blade adaxially olivaceous when dry, shiny, elliptic or obovate-elliptic, (2-)4-6(-9) × 1-3 cm, leathery, adaxially glabrous except on midvein, lateral veins 7 or 8 pairs, conspicuous abaxially, slightly impressed adaxially, reticulate veins obscure on both surfaces, base rounded or obtuse, margin sparsely serrate, teeth black, apex caudate-acuminate, acumen 1-1.5 cm. Inflorescences: cymes, fasciculate, axillary on second year’s branchlets, puberulent; flowers olive-yellow, fragrant, 5- or 6-merous. Male inflorescences: cymes of order 2, 3-flowered; peduncles 2-3.5 mm; basal bracts ovate, puberulent, ciliate, with 2 basal appendages, apex acute; pedicels 1.5-2 mm, longitudinally striate; bracteoles 2, median, or absent; calyx patelliform, 2.5-3 mm in diam., deeply 5- or 6-lobed, lobes deltoid, puberulent, ciliate, apex acute; corolla rotate, 5-6 mm in diam., petals oblong, 1.7-2 mm, basally slightly connate, margin erose, not ciliate; stamens shorter than petals, anthers ovoid; rudimentary ovary pulvinate. Female inflorescences: 1-flowered cymes; pedicels 3-4 mm; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; staminodes ca. 2/3 as long as petals, sterile anthers sagittate; ovary subglobose, ca. 1.5 mm in diam. Fruiting pedicel 3-4 mm. Fruit red, globose, 3-4 mm in diam.; exocarp membranous; mesocarp fleshy; persistent calyx explanate, patelliform, ca. 3 mm in diam., ciliate; persistent stigma mammilliform; pyrenes 5 or 6, oblong, ca. 1.5 mm, ca. 0.5 mm in diam., both ends obtuse, smooth, abaxially and laterally longitudinally 1-striate, endocarp leathery. Fl. Jul, fr. Sep-Nov.

Yunnan [N Myanmar].

Shrub forests on mountain slopes; (1800-)2600-3000 m.