Ilex punctatilimba C.Y.Wu ex Y.R.Li, Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin

Ilex punctatilimba C.Y.Wu ex Y.R.Li, Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin View in CoL 5(1): 21. 1985. Fig. 1 View Fig & 2 View Fig

Shrubs or small trees, 3–5 m tall. Young branches longitudinally ridged and slightly angled, brownish, glabrous; mature branches with raised rounded leaf scars, lenticels absent. Leaves alternate, oblanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate; lower leaf 11–17.5 × 5.5–6.5; upper leaves 20.5–21.5 × 6.5–7.0 cm, cuneate at base, serrate-serrulate at margin, acuminate at apex, leathery, adaxial and abaxial, glabrous, central veins strongly impressed, lateral veins 11–13 pairs, reticulate veins evident abaxially. Petiole 1.5–2.0 cm long, angled, or sub-flattened, thick, glabrous. Infructescence a 1-fruited cyme, pseudoracemose or fascicles, axillary, peduncles angled, 8–10 mm long; pedicels 2–5(–7) mm long, minutely hairy; bracts ovate, deciduous, minutely ciliate at margins; bracteoles deciduous. Flowers not seen. Fruiting calyx persistent, 4-lobed, lobes ovoid–obovoid, minutely ciliate at margins. Stigma persistent, flat, discoid, minutely 4-lobed. Fruit circular-globose, c. 7 mm long, bright red. pyrenes c. 4, oblong-ellipsoidal, c. 3–4 × 2–3 mm long, angled, longitudinally ridged.

Flowering and fruiting: Flowering not observed; Fruiting from February.

Habitat: The plants were growing inside the moist evergreen forests along with Hedychium spp. ,

Phlogacanthus thyrsiformis Mabb. , Stauntonia latifolia (Wall.) R.Br. ex Wall. and Toona ciliata M.Roem.

Distribution: It is native to China South-Central, Myanmar and Tibet ( POWO, 2024) and now recorded from Senapati District of Manipur, India (Fig.).

Specimens examined: INDIA, Manipur, Senapati district, KoziirKorii forest , 1741 m, 19.02.2017, N. Dhatchanamoorthy 120524 ( FRLH) . CHINA, Yunnan, Gongshan, Changputung , 1700 m, 28.09.1940, K. M. Feng 8070 . MYANMAR, Adung Valley , 1678 m, 09.09.1924, George Forrest 25069 ( E [ E00120343 ] digital image) .

Notes: The present collection is from a dense, moist evergreen forest in KoziirKorii at 1741 m above sea level, Senapati district, Manipur and the authors observed only three fruiting individuals at 10 km sq. range, there is a possibility that the species may present in nearby areas. So, currently this species is categorized as regionally Data Deficient ( DD) by IUCN (2024) threatened categories .