Description and Status of Ilex crenata 



Ilex crenata Thunberg ex J.A. Murray was named by Carl Peter Thunberg 

 (1743-1828), a Swedish physician who worked for the Dutch East India 

 Co. in Japan from 1776-1777, in his "Flora Japonica: Sistens Plantas 

 Insularum Japonicarum," p. 78. 1784. J.A. Murray (1784), however, 

 while using Thunberg 's manuscripts was the first authority to publish 

 Thunberg 's species name. Murray's "Systema Vegetabilium," edition 

 14 of 1784, was published in May or June and therefore has priority over 

 Thunberg's "Flora Japonica," which was published in August of 1784. 

 Thunberg and Murray were the first botanists from the Western World to 

 name and describe many Japanese plants that were collected by Thunberg 

 and that are widely cultivated today, including /. crenata, I. Integra, and 

 /. latifolia. 



Thunberg's original Latin description of/, crenata from his "Flora 

 Japonica" follows: 



/. foli is ovatis crenatis ,pedunculahs rameis spar sis subtrifloris. 

 Caulis fruticosus erectus. Rami et ramuli subtretes, nodulosis 

 patuli. Folia sparsa petiolata, ovata obtusa, crenata margine 

 reflexo, supra viridia, subtus pallida, unguicularia. Petioli 

 brevissima. Flores sparsi in ramulis, pedunculati. Pedunculi 

 simplices, bifida et trifida, cernui, vix unguiculares pedicel I is 

 brevissimis. 



Our English translation (brackets [ ] in the English translation indicate 

 authors' clarifications of the Latin): 



Leaves ovate-crenate, peduncles and branches sparsely 

 subtriflorous, inflorescence having 3 flowers more or less 

 together. Stems shrubby, erect. Branches and branchlets 

 subterete [nearly round], nodulose [nodes small], spreading. 

 Leaves sparse, few [widely distant], petiolate, ovate, obtuse, 

 with reflexed [revolute] , crenate margins, upper surfaces green, 

 lower surfaces paler, unguiculate [meaning "clawed," in this 

 case, abruptly narrowing into the petiole]. Petiole very short. 

 Flowers sparse and pedunculate on branchlets. Peduncles 

 [actually inflorescences] simple, 2-3 forked [with 2-3 branches 

 = pedicels], nodding, scarcely pedicellate, pedicels very short. 



