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(Last Modified On 3/15/2013)
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(Last Modified On 3/15/2013)
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Genus
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Ilex L.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Sp. P1. 125, 1753
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Reference
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Gen. P1. ed. 5, 158, 1754.
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Description
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Trees or shrubs, the branchlets all elongated or elongated and abbreviated. Leaves with the blades linear to suborbicular, usually persistent (Panama), stipu- late, from very short- to moderately long-petiolate, the margins entire or variously toothed, cut or spinose, glabrous or puberulent, rarely pilose, especially beneath, membranaceous to thickly coriaceous, usually shining and dark green above, paler and duller beneath. Flowers on current growth or on old wood, solitary or fascicu- late, usually axillary to a leaf or forking of branchlets, or laterally single, or singly clustered laterally or axillary at the base of current growth, the clusters one- to many-flowered, forming cyme-like, dichasiate, racemose, corymbose, umbellate, paniculate, or irregularly complex, usually determinate inflorescences, mostly 4- merous, varying (New World) from 4- to 8-(9-)merous (aborted 9 organs excepted), isomerous; calyx usually imbricate, patelliform to cupuliform, in fruit frequently becoming explanate, the lobes shorter, equal to or longer than the tube, usually ovate or deltoid, occasionally irregular, entire or laciniate, ciliolate or eciliolate, acute or obtuse; corolla imbricate, rotate, the petals united at the base (rarely, but not in ours, almost free), usually white, rarely greenish-white, yel- lowish-white, or pinkish-white; filaments usually shorter than but varying to little longer than the petals, thickened at the base; fertile stamens with anthers longer to shorter than the filaments; staminodia with aborted anthers mostly shorter than the filaments, occasionally subobsolete; fertile ovary mostly conic, ovoid or ellipsoid, the style usually lacking, the stigmatic lobes sessile, equal in number to the locules of the ovary, usually united into a punctate to hemispherical stigma, when style present, the stigma subsessile; locules 1-ovulate, the ovules with 1 integument; pistillodium very variable, usually conic to pulvinate, the style usually lacking, the stigmatic lobes free, partly conflent or united, much smaller than the fertile ovary. Fruit ellipsoid to globose, mostly red, sometimes black or dark violet, rarely yellow or white, the calyx and stigma persistent; exocarp usually thin; mesocarp mostly thick, sometimes almost lacking; endocarp mostly hard, coriaecous to stony, surrounding and united with a seed to form a pyrene; pyrenes mostly trigonous, sometimes lanceolate in cross-section, equal to the number of locules of the ovary, in ours 4-8(-10), dorsally smooth or variously striate, sulcate, ridged or canaliculate, laterally smooth to marked (as dorsally), ventrally reduced to a stria.
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Habit
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Trees shrubs
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Distribution
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The center of distribution is in the Western Hemisphere in the area between the Rio La Plata and eastern Andes from northern Argentina to southeastern Colombia.
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Key
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a. Blades mostly widest above the middle, variously obovate, or very broadly obovate or suborbicular, when suborbicular, the teeth shallow, few or lacking, crenulate; 8 flowers usually fasciculate; calyx lobes acuminate or acute. b. Blades, obovate, usually 2X or more longer than wide, with margins es- sentially entire (occasionally few-toothed); 8 flowers usually pedunculate; calyx-lobes acute --- --- --- --- -- --- --- --- --- -- 1. I. guianensis bb. Blades suborbicular or very broadly obovate, less than 2X as long as wide, the margins appressed-crenulate, at least on the upper 1/3 of the blade; 8 flowers pedicellate; calyx-lobes acuminate ............................ 2. I. chiriquensis aa. Blades widest at or below the middle, very broadly cuneate-ovate to suborbicu- lar, or elliptic to broadly elliptic, when suborbicular, the teeth deep and many, dentate; 8 flowers (where known) mostly solitary; calyx lobes obtuse. c. Blade margins entire .............. 3. I. valerii cc. Blade margins grossly dentate .; -............. 4. I. discolor var. lamprophylla
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