An evergreen shrub, or a tree up to 20 or 30 ft high; young stems glabrous. Leaves unarmed, ovate or oval, tapering or rounded at the base, slender-pointed, margins entire, 1 1⁄2 to 3 in. long, 3⁄4 to 11⁄4 in. wide, dark glossy green and glabrous; stalk 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. long. Male flowers in clusters; female usually solitary, borne on the current season’s shoots. The chief peculiarity of this holly is the length of the fruit-stalk, which is 1 to 11⁄2 in. long, so that the bright red fruits, each 1⁄4 in. across, stand out conspicuously.
Native of Japan and China; introduced by Sargent from Japan in 1893. It is quite hardy. Some of the Chinese plants have somewhat longer leaves than is usual in Japan, whence came Miquel’s type. But the difference is not significant except in the case of some Hupeh plants, with leaves 3 to 4 in. long. Such plants were introduced by Wilson in 1901 and 1907 and were distributed from Veitch’s Coombe Wood nursery. They may be distinguished as f. continentalis Loes. Loesencr also noted that the calyx in this form is more clearly ciliolate than in the typical form, but this docs not hold good for all Chinese material. The Wilson introduction is perhaps commoner in Britain than Sargent’s introduction from Japan.