The Status of Ilex collina Alexander

In 1936, A. B. Brooks reported the discovery of Ilex longipes Walt. in West Virginia. Several years later, Maurice Brooks (1940) reported the discovery of a yellow fruited form of this species and subsequently named it forma Van Trompii. In 1941, E. J. Alexander, who had been studying plants of the same species but from a different locality for a number of years, named the species I. collina. Following this, in 1940, Core and Davis transferred the yellow fruited form to this species. In the eighth edition of Gray’s Manual of Botany (1950), Fernald regarded the long pedicelled holly of Virginia and West Virginia as being identical with I. iongipes. There are several reasons why the latter is not a satisfactory treatment, and the writer suggests that Alexander’s name be used.