Ilex species- near Perth and Dundee, Scotland

Mystery shrub seen in Scotland: 18 images.
Glendoick gardens near Perth and Dundee, Scotland. are only open in April and May to the public.

The garden is the home of the COX family. 3 x generations of plant hunters.
They specialise in Rhododendrons but have other unusual shrubs.
Now owned by Kenneth Cox, who runs the busy garden centre.
I first noticed this shrub on 11th April 2024.
2 shrubs together.
Appeared to be evergreen.
One with tiny 4 petal flowers,  one with brown bits…female and male on sepperate bushes?
At first I thought it was Euonymus…but leaves are alternate.
I have since popped back a few times to add more images.
It formed white berries…not round.
Please does any one here recognise it.
Many thanks as always for your expert help.

Acronychia. ??

Sir, Many thanks for looking and your suggestion of Acronychia.

This a new plant for me so have tried to do my research.
Sadly I  do not think it is a match.
Acronychia leaves are opposite.  Mystery shrub has alternate leaves ….   see image below.
Acronychia the flowers are bisexual, with four sepals, four petals and eight stamens.
Mystery plant only has 4 stamen.
I think there may be 2 shrubs one was female, the 2nd next to it  sadly the flowers were over brown and wilted…maybe the male.
Acronychia seeds are black. mystery plant seeds were white…see image below

Pl. try Gaultheria and Gymnosporia

Thank you for looking sir and for your  two suggestions.

I do not think that it can be Gaultheria…as I do not believe that the flowers are right for Ericaceae.
Quote wiki….
“Gaultheria is a genus of about 283 species of shrubs in the family Ericaceae.
I will check out  Gymnosporia

Can you post high res. images of these two images as details are not clearly seen here?


Hope this helps.

It will only allow one large pic at a time.
On the small images above ..if I tap on them they go to full size.
Does that not happen for others?
Hope 2 new large pics showing the flowers  help.
2 high res. images.

Pl. try Ilex like


I have added 2 more pics to show the seed capsule.

I have never seen any Ilex sp…common name Holly with berries in 4 parts.
Flowers are nothing like the Ilex aquifolium link you added.
2 images- 1 high res.

https://www.gbif.org/species/5414222
Thank you.

Thank you for the images of Ilex aquilifolium…a very common tree in UK. 
I know it well.
Nothing is a match.. not the flowers, leaves or berries.
The seed capsules are very very different to most plants they are not round but are in 4 segments. Rather like Euonymus.

Yes

Related to Ternstromiaceae, tea family.

I have never heard of Ternstromiaceae before… forgive my ignorance.
I have looked it up and found this….”Trees and Shrubs online.”
https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/ternstroemia/
https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/ternstroemia/
According to the link above they seems too have 5 petals and multiple stamens…I believe that this rules it out.

Perhaps it could be a species of Ilex!


Thank you for looking.

Yes Ilex is a possibility as it has tiny flowers with 4 petals.
However, I have never seen any  Holly where the berries that start white, then go blush pink and finally red.
Not any Ilex with berries that are not round.
Below are the latest and last pics I took on 22nd August.
Very few berries remained.
The shrub was again flowering.
5 images.