Ilex crenataThunb.

Japanese holly

WFO wfo-0001078552 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Ilex crenata, photographed by Mila C.
fig. a Mila C., CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-17 / obs. 198460169
Ilex crenata, photographed by Katja Schulz
fig. b Katja Schulz, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186457841
Ilex crenata, photographed by Cecil Smith
fig. c Cecil Smith, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 183192887
Ilex crenata, photographed by Violet T.
fig. d Violet T., CC BY 4.0 / obs. 175948595
Ilex crenata, photographed by Violet T.
fig. e Violet T., CC BY 4.0 / obs. 175736948
Ilex crenata, photographed by Quinn Shemet
fig. f Quinn Shemet, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 175511418
Ilex crenata, photographed by Quinn Shemet
fig. g Quinn Shemet, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 166484369
Ilex crenata, photographed by Reid Hardin
fig. h Reid Hardin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 135154977

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 15 botanical countries

Regions where Ilex crenata is native: China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Hainan, Japan, Korea, Kuril Is., Sakhalin, Taiwan, Tibet, Assam, East Himalaya, Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam China North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastHainanJapanSakhalinTaiwanTibetAssamEast HimalayaMyanmarNepalVietnam Korea
Native distribution of Ilex crenata, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
China North-Central CHN ASIA-TEMPERATE
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Hainan CHH
Japan JAP
Korea KOR
Kuril Is. KUR
Sakhalin SAK
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
Assam ASS ASIA-TROPICAL
East Himalaya EHM
Myanmar MYA
Nepal NEP
Vietnam VIE

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 31 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Celastrus adenophylla Miq.
  • Eurya myrtilloides Elmer
  • Ilex crenata f. bullata Rehder
  • Ilex crenata f. convexa (Makino) Rehder
  • Ilex crenata f. crenata
  • Ilex crenata f. helleri (Craig) Rehder
  • Ilex crenata f. latifolia (Goldring) Rehder
  • Ilex crenata f. longifolia (Goldring) Rehder
  • Ilex crenata f. longipedunculata S.Y.Hu
  • Ilex crenata f. luteovariegata (Regel) Rehder
  • Ilex crenata f. microphylla Rehder
  • Ilex crenata f. multicrenata (C.J.Tseng) S.K.Chen
  • Ilex crenata f. nummularia (Yatabe) H.Hara
  • Ilex crenata subsp. fukasawana (Makino) Murata
  • Ilex crenata var. aureovariegata Goldring
  • Ilex crenata var. convexa Makino
  • Ilex crenata var. helleri (Craig) L.H.Bailey
  • Ilex crenata var. latifolia Goldring
  • Ilex crenata var. longifolia Goldring
  • Ilex crenata var. luteovariegata Regel
  • Ilex crenata var. mariesii Bean ex Dallim.
  • Ilex crenata var. multicrenata C.J.Tseng
  • Ilex crenata var. nummularia Yatabe
  • Ilex crenata var. thomsonii (Hook.f.) Loes.

and 7 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.