Description: Evergreen shrubs or small trees, dioecious.
Leaves with margins entire or toothed, petiolate, stipulate.
Inflorescences usually cymose. Sepals fused at the base, small. Petals 4, free or fused basally. Stamens usually slightly shorter than petals, epipetalous. Female flowers with staminodes. Male flowers with a rudimentary ovary.
Drupe with 2–4 pyrenes; pyrenes smooth, ribbed or striate.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 390 species, tropical & temperate regions. Australia: 3 species (2 species native, 1 species naturalized), Qld, N.S.W., N.T., W.A.
Text by W. K. Allen
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Ilex aquifolium |
|
