Morphological characteristics of Ilex cornuta without thorns

Evergreen shrubs or small trees, height (0.6 ~)1~ 3m; Young branches with longitudinal ridges and grooves, puberulent or glabrous. Two-year-old branches are brown, three-year-old branches are gray, with longitudinal cracks and raised leaf scars, and no lenticels. The leaves are thick leathery, type II, oblong or oval with four edges, 4 ~ 9 cm long and 2 ~ 4 cm wide, with three sharp and hard teeth at the apex, the central teeth are often bent downward, the base is round or nearly truncated, and there are 1 ~ 2 teeth on both sides, sometimes the whole edge (this often happens in oval leaves), the leaves are dark green, shiny and the back is light green. Petiole 4 ~ 8 mm long, with slots on it, puberulent; Stipules callose, broadly triangular. Inflorescences clustered in the axils of biennial branches, with nearly round scales, pilose and ciliate at the base; Bracts ovate, apex obtuse or mucronate, pubescent and ciliate; Flowers are light yellow, 4. Male flower; Pedicel 5 ~ 6 mm long, glabrous, with 1 ~ 2 wide triangular bracteoles at the base; Calyx discoid; The diameter is about 2.5 mm, the lobes are membranous, broadly triangular, about 0.7 mm long and 65438 0.5 mm wide, sparsely puberulent and ciliate; Corolla radial, about 7 mm in diameter, petals oblong-ovate, 3 ~ 4 mm long, reflexed, and connate at the base; Stamens are equal to or slightly longer than petals, and anthers are oblong and oval, about 65438 0 mm long; Degenerate ovary subglobose, apex obtuse or rounded, inconspicuously 4-lobed. Female flower: the pedicel is 8 ~ 9 mm long, the fruit period is 13 ~ 14 mm, it is hairless, and there are two small and wide triangular bracts at the base; Calyx and petals are like male flowers; Staminodes are 4/5 of petals, slightly longer than ovaries, and abortive anthers are oval and arrow-shaped; Ovary oblong-ovoid, 3 ~ 4 mm long, 2 mm in diameter, stigma discoid, 4-lobed. The fruit is spherical, 8 ~ 10 mm in diameter, bright red at maturity, with a quadrangular persistent calyx at the base and a discoid persistent stigma at the top, which is obviously 4-lobed; Pedicel 8 ~ 14 mm long. The nucleus 4 is obovate or oval in outline, 7 ~ 8 mm long, 5 mm wide on the back, full of wrinkles and folds, with 1 longitudinal groove in the center of the back, and endocarp bone. The flowering period is from April to May, and the fruiting period is10-65438+February.