Abstract
Leaf remains of Ilex L. sect. Ilex known from the Pliocene of Auenheim (Alsace, France) and Frankfurt a.
M. - Niederrad (Rhineland, Germany) as Ilex aff. cornuta Lindl. fossilis Geissert and Ilex aquifolium L. fossilis Engelhardt, respectively, are re-interpreted as representing a new species Ilex geissertii Kvaček, Teodoridis and Wang Qing, sp. nov. Similar leaf fossils occur also in the late Neogene of the Netherlands (Brunssum), France (Murat), and Italy (Valdarno).
Although these fossil records were considered either direct ancestors of I. aquifolium L. (Near-East, Europe, N Africa) or allied to I. cornuta Lindl. and Paxt. (China, Korea), both the mentioned extant species differ in the leaf morphology. Close affinities of Ilex geissertii to several extant representatives of Ilex subsect.
Ilex (= Oxyodontae Loes. nom. illegit.) are indisputable and stress a common origin of this group of the hollies known already from the Oligocene in Europe (Ilex hibschii Kvaček and Walther). Several extinct eleme