Ilex rotunda was recorded from Japan and S Korea southwestwards to Vietnam, and Yunnan, China, while I. excelsa (Wall.) Voigt (1845: 347) was reported from N Pakistan eastwards to Yunnan of China via N India, Nepal, and Bhutan. Therefore, both these two species are present in Yunnan. Hu (1949a) and Chen et al. (2008) did not use external morphology to distinguish these two species. Instead, they used only characters of the pyrenes: sulcate vs. esulcate, and endocarp coriaceous vs. woody. The present author examined a large number of specimens of the two species from Japan to NW India, but also failed in finding any significant difference in external morphology. The result of observations of the pyrenes shows that the pyrenes from Japan (two collections), Hongkong (one collection), and Guangxi (one collection) are all 3-striate and 2-sulcate, whereas those from Tengchong (SW Yunnan) are esulcate. The specimens from the other parts of Yunnan have a diverse pyrene morphology. The specimens from Pingbian, Yanshan and Xichou in SE Yunnan have pyrenes which are 2-striate and 1-sulcate on the dorsal side, whereas those from Luchuan in C Yunnan and Lincang in SW Yunnan have the pyrenes 2-striate but esulcate on the dorsal side (Fig. 6). It is, therefore, reasonable to treat these two groups as two subspecies.

1a. Pyrenes 3-striate and 2-sulcate, rarely 2-striate and 1-sulcate................................................................. Ilex rotunda subsp. rotunda

1b. Pyrenes smooth........................................................................................................................................ Ilex rotunda subsp. excelsa