Ilex pubescens shrubs or small trees, evergreen, 3-8 m tall. Branchlets gray-brown, somewhat zigzag, subquadrangular, densely hirsute or villous, longitudinally ridged and rugose; leaf scars slightly raised, nearly crescent-shaped; lenticels absent; terminal buds often poorly developed or absent. Stipules persistent, deltoid, hirsute, apically acute; petiole 2.5-5 mm, densely hirsute; leaf blade olivaceous or deep olivaceous when dry, elliptic, oblong, obovate, or narrowly ovate, 2-6(-10) × 1-2.5(-7) cm, thickly papery, papery, or membranous, both surfaces hirsute, midvein flattened or slightly impressed adaxially, densely hirsute, lateral veins 4 or 5 pairs.

A new triterpene and its glycoside have been isolated from methanol extract of roots of Ilexpubescens. Their structures were established as 3β, 19α-dihydroxyurs-12-en-24,28-dioic acid and its 28-β-d-glucopyranosyl ester, based on chemical and spectral evidence. Two new triterpene glycosides ilex publesnin A and ilexpublesnin B were isolated from the root of Ilexpubescens.