Ilex crenata grows in the wild from sea level to 1000 m in Honshu and 

 Kyushu, Japan, and shows tremendous variability within local 

 populations. In Hokkaido, Japan, /. crenata is found as a low-growing 

 shrub in deep forests at elevations below the snowline. At the highest 

 elevations, plants are stunted because of climate and not necessarily 

 because of genetic influences. Convex-leaved forms appear to be less 

 common in the wild than other leaf variations. Plants with distinct leaf 

 types and habits of growth are not restricted as colonies but occur 

 randomly within local populations. Seedling populations from cultivated 

 selections also exhibit these characteristics. 



The botanical classification of/, crenata as a species is reasonably clear. 

 However, there are botanical classification problems in some closely 

 related elements. For example, two or more botanical names may have 

 been given to the same plant. Ilex maximowicziana var. kanehirae 

 (Yamamoto) Yamazaki and /. crenata var. mutchagara (Makino) Hara 

 apply to the same plant, which had been known previously as 

 /. mutchagara Makino. Although this taxon has been studied in Japan, it 

 has received minimal attention in its other natural locations, such as the 

 Ryukyu Islands. In this checklist /. maximowicziana var. kanehirae is 

 accepted. Another problem concerns the taxonomy and nomenclature of 

 /. crenata var. thomsonii (Hooker f.) Loesener, which was originally 

 described as /. thomsonii Hooker f. This taxon, a native of the Bengal 

 Himalayas and Sikkim, has not received adequate study in the wild, and 

 there are very few herbarium specimens. It is accepted in this checklist as 

 /. crenata var. thomsonii. Some of the numerous infraspecific taxa 

 described from the wild have undergone many rank changes from distinct 

 species to formae, and then to cultivars; in some cases, rank changes have 

 proceeded in the opposite direction. 



In this work, numerous questions and long-standing problems of botanical 

 and cultivar synonymy have been resolved. While some problems remain 

 and may never be solved, full documentation is always presented. 



