Ilex cornuta (Chinese holly, "Shinahiiragimochi")

Japanese name: シナヒイラギモチ （支那柊黐）
Scientific name: Ilex cornuta

[Overview]
An evergreen shrub up to 4 m tall.
The leaves are alternate and simple, elliptic, 4–9 cm long and 2–4 cm wide, thick, and glossy on the upper surface.
On the leaves of young trees and those on the lower branches of mature trees, the tip is sharply pointed like a spine, and the margin has several pairs of teeth ending in sharp spines, giving the leaf an arrow-feather shape.
The leaves on the upper branches of mature trees are nearly entire.
It is dioecious.
Inflorescences arise from the leaf axils; the male flowers are in cymes, and the female flowers are solitary or in cymes.
The flowers are small, cream-colored, and 4-petaled.
The fruit is round and ripens red.

[Uses]
The leaves, fruits, bark, and roots are used medicinally.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by cuttings or grafting.
It can also be grown from seed, but plants grown from seed will turn out to be both male and female.
When sowing, harvest ripe fruits, wash off the pulp, bury the seeds in moistened vermiculite or similar so they do not dry out, store them in a cool, dark place, take them out in March–April of the following year, and wash them well again before sowing.
It is a plant suited to cool regions.
It prefers sun to partial shade and well-drained, humus-rich, moderately moist soil.
Fruit set is better in a sunny site, but it dislikes strong afternoon sun and dry places.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries.
For plants in the ground, watering is unnecessary unless a long spell of sunny weather makes the soil dry.
Apply compost as fertilizer in winter by digging holes at several places around the plant and burying it.
Pests and diseases include sooty mold and scale insects.

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