172. Ilex liangii S. Y. Hu, J. Arnold Arbor. 31: 246. 1950.
保亭冬青 bao ting dong qing
Shrubs or trees, evergreen, 3-8 m tall, glabrous throughout; bark gray-black. Branchlets gray-white, slender, leaf scars raised, circular; terminal buds when present globose, glabrous. Stipules often obscure; petiole 4-5 mm, adaxially longitudinally sulcate; leaf blade abaxially greenish, adaxially green, slightly shiny, oblong-elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate, 4-5.5 × 1.5-2.5 cm, leathery, abaxially brown punctate, midvein impressed adaxially, lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs, evident or obscure abaxially, obscure adaxially, reticulate veins sometimes evident abaxially, base obtuse or cuneate, often decurrent, margin entire, apex obtuse, rounded, or sometimes retuse. Male inflorescences: cymes of order 2, 3-flowered, fasciculate, axillary on second year’s branchlets; peduncles 3-4 mm; pedicels ca. 1 mm, glabrous; flowers white, 4-merous; calyx ca. 2 mm in diam., glabrous, deeply 4-lobed, lobes erose at margin, apex rounded or obtuse, ciliate; corolla ca. 5 mm in diam., petals obovate, ca. 2 mm, basally slightly connate; stamens ca. 2/3 as long as petals; rudimentary ovary subovoid, papillate, rostrate. Female flowers not known. Infructescences: 1-fruited cymes, solitary or few fascicled, fascicles 3-fruited, axillary; fruiting pedicels 3-5 mm; bracteoles 2, median. Fruit red, globose, ca. 5 mm in diam.; persistent calyx explanate, ca. 2.5 mm in diam., glabrous, 4-lobed, lobes orbicular or deltoid, ciliate; persistent style evident, stigma capitate; pyrenes 4, broadly ellipsoidal, ca. 3.7 mm, ca. 2.3 mm in diam., abaxially longitudinally 3- or 4-striate, not sulcate, striae adhering to endocarp, not easily deciduous, endocarp leathery. Fl. Oct-Dec, fr. Nov-Jan.
● Dense forests, sparse forests of mountain valleys; 800-1000 m. Hainan.