Hollyleaf Sweetspire

Shrubs 2-4 m tall. Branchlets glabrous. Petiole 5-10 mm, glabrous; leaf blade abaxially pale green, adaxially dark green and glossy, elliptic-oblong to broadly elliptic, rarely suborbicular, 5-9.5 × 3-6 cm, thickly leathery, both surfaces glabrous or barbellate only at vein axils, midvein and secondary veins prominently raised abaxially, secondary veins in 5 or 6 pairs, ascending, reticulate veins obscure, base obtuse or rounded, margin often revolute when dry, laxly spinose serrate, apex acute or spinose. Racemes terminal, pendulous, 25-30 cm; rachis puberulous; bracts subulate, ca. 1 mm. Flowers numerous, usually 3-clustered; pedicel ca. 1.5 mm, glabrous. Calyx shallowly cupular; lobes erect at anthesis, slightly incurved apically, triangular-lanceolate, ca. 2.5 mm, apex mucronulate. Stamens ca. 1/2 as long as petals; filaments ca. 1.5 mm, glabrous; anthers oblong. Ovary semi-inferior. Style simple; stigma capitate. Capsule pendulous, ovoid-lanceolate, ca. 5 mm, glabrous. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Nov. 2n = 22*.

Guizhou, W Hubei, SW Shaanxi, E Sichuan.

* Forests on mountain slopes, thickets, streamsides and roadsides in valleys; 1500-1700 m.

Itea ilicifolia, the holly-leaved sweet spire, is a species of flowering plant in the family Iteaceae, native to western China. It is an evergreen shrub growing to 3–5 m (10–16 ft) tall by 3 m (10 ft) broad, with glossy holly-like leaves and fragrant drooping racemes of greenish-white flowers, 30 cm (12 in) long, in summer and autumn. It is hardy, though young plants require protection from dry winds.

This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.