Ilex crenata

Taxobox
name = "Ilex crenata"

---

image_width = 240px
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Aquifoliales
familia = Aquifoliaceae
genus = "Ilex"
species = "I. crenata"
binomial = "Ilex crenata"
binomial_authority = Thunb.

"Ilex crenata" (Japanese Holly or Box-leaved Holly; Japanese: イヌツゲ "inutsuge") is a species of holly native to eastern China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Sakhalin.Germplasm Resources Information Network: [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?19691 "Ilex crenata"] ]

It is an evergreen shrub or small tree growing to a height of 3-5 m (rarely 10 m) tall, with a trunk diameter up to 20 cm. The leaves are glossy dark green, small, 10-30 mm long and 10-17 mm broad, with a crenate margin, sometimes spiny. The flowers are dioecious, white, four-lobed. The fruit is a black drupe 5 mm diameter, containing four seeds. It grows well in acidic soil, between a pH of 3.7 and 6.0.Osaka hundred trees: [http://www.ne.jp/asahi/osaka/100ju/Inutuge.htm "Ilex crenata"] (in Japanese; [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.ne.jp/asahi/osaka/100ju/Inutuge.htm&sa=X&oi=translate& google translation] )] Okayama Science University: [http://had0.big.ous.ac.jp/~hada/plantsdic/angiospermae/dicotyledoneae/choripetalae/aquifoliaceae/inutsuge/inutsuge.htm "Ilex crenata"] (in Japanese; [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://had0.big.ous.ac.jp/~hada/plantsdic/angiospermae/dicotyledoneae/choripetalae/aquifoliaceae/inutsuge/inutsuge.htm&sa=X&oi=translate& google translation] )] Huxley, A., ed. (1992). "New RHS Dictionary of Gardening". Macmillan ISBN 0-333-47494-5.]

Cultivation

Japanese Holly is grown as an ornamental plant for its dense evergreen foliage. It is superficially similar in appearance to box ("Buxus"), and is often used in similar situations; it can readily be distinguished from box by its alternate, not opposite, leaf arrangement.

Numerous cultivars have been selected, including plants with the leaves variegated (e.g. 'Golden Gem', 'Shiro-Fukurin'), dark green (e.g. 'Green Lustre'), or greyish-green (e.g. 'Bad Zwischenahn'); with yellow fruit (e.g. 'Ivory Hall'); and with the habit erect (e.g. 'Chesapeake'), spreading (e.g. 'Green Island', 'Hetzii'), or dwarf (e.g. 'Mariesii', 'Stokes').

References