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Ilex
See list of 8 species in this genus-
1a. Perianth 4- or 5-merous; sepals minute, deciduous in fruit; petals linear to linear-oblong, yellow-white, distinct; stamens free; leaves without stipules; branchlets and winter buds purple
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1b. Perianth 4- to 8-merous; sepals evident, persistent in fruit; petals obovate, white, connate at the base; stamens adnate to the corolla tube for a short distance; leaves with a stipular vestige on each side; branchlets and winter buds gray to brown
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2a. Leaf blades thick, coriaceous, evergreen
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3a. Leaf blades with a spine-tip and often with 2 or more remote, spine-tipped teeth per margin, (30–) 50–100 mm long; carpellate flowers 4-merous; drupe red (rarely yellow), 7–10 mm thick
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4a. Leaf blades dull or barely sublustrous, with marginal spines that are +/- in plane with the leaf blade or slightly declined below the plane of the blade (i.e., usually not more than 30 degrees); flowers and fruits solitary or in solitary, peduncled cymes on the branchlets of the current season
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4b. Leaf blades highly lustrous, especially adaxially, with marginal spines that are oriented strongly above or below the plane of the blade (i.e., some usually more than 30 degrees); flowers and fruits usually clustered, produced from the axils on branches of the previous season
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3b. Leaf blades merely toothed, without spines [Fig. 367], 15–50 mm long; carpellate flowers 6- to 8-merous (4-merous in I. crenata); drupe black, 4–5 (–8) mm thick
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5a. Leaf blades with 1–3 teeth per margin [Fig. 367], the teeth usually restricted to the apical ⅓ of the blade; flowers 6- to 8-merous; drupe 4–5 mm thick
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5b. Leaf blades with (3–) 4–10 teeth per margin, the teeth usually not restricted to the apical portion of the blade; flowers 4-merous; drupe 6–8 mm thick
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2b. Leaf blades thinner, herbaceous, deciduous
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6a. Sepals eciliate [Fig. 368]; staminate flowers on peduncles 8–16 mm long; drupe usually orange-red
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6b. Sepals ciliate (also sometimes pubescent on the abaxial surface) [Fig. 369]; staminate flowers borne on peduncles 1–4 mm long; drupe usually deep red
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7a. Carpellate flowers 4- or 5 (–6)-merous, with ciliate-margined petals [Fig. 369]; pyrenes striate-ribbed on outer surface
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7b. Carpellate flowers 5- to 8-merous, with entire or inconspicuously erose-margined petals; pyrenes smooth on outer surface
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Each photo represents one species in this genus.