| Author | Lindley | |
| Distribution | Known from 6 counties in the Piedmont and the Sandhills. Other specimens from Alleghany, Buncombe, Carteret, Jackson, Rowan, and Wake counties are all from cultivated and or persistent plants. The Anson record is from an iNat photo by Becky Dill.
Native of China; in N.A. NC to KY and AR, south to GA and LA. | |
| Abundance | Rare or very rare. Barely escaping from cultivation in NC. | |
| Habitat | Bottomland hardwoods, disturbed woods on campus, weedy lot and edge of woods, mesic draw in woods, seedlings appearing in yard spontaneously. |
| Phenology | Flowering -- no NC data, though probably April-June. Fruiting late summer/fall. | |
| Identification | This small tree has very thick, coriaceous leaves with sinuous margins. Most NC plants have a few tough, very sharp spines on the margins, but other plants have rather elliptical leaves without spines. The berries are bright red. Spiny plants may be confused with Ilex aquifolia -- not known to escape in NC, but that plant's leaves are much darker green and have more spines per leaf (twice or more). | |
| Taxonomic Comments | | |
| Other Common Name(s) | | |
| State Rank | SE | |
| Global Rank | GNR | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
