An evergreen glabrous tree attaining a height of 60 to 80 ft in Japan. Leaves 3 to 5 in. long, narrowly oval or lanceolate, leathery, shallowly toothed at the upper end, lustrous green; leaf-stalks half the length of the blade. Flowers produced from April to June in erect, terminal racemes, each flower on a slender stalk 1 to 11⁄2 in. long. There are no sepals or petals, and the numerous stamens are set round the edge of a green hemispherical disk, which is really the calyx-tube. Across the stamens the flower is 3⁄4 in. in diameter. Carpels about ten, arranged in a ring within the stamens. Bot. Mag., t. 7375.
Native of Japan from N. Honshu southwards, the Ryukyus and Formosa; also of Korea on Quelpaert Island (Cheju Do). It is a shrub or small tree in Britain, quite hardy if sheltered from cold winds, with handsome foliage recalling that of a tree-ivy. It is interesting when in bloom, the flowers being a vivid green. It was introduced from Japan by Messrs Veitch, in whose nursery at Coombe Wood it first flowered in 1894. It will grow in any good soil that is not excessively chalky.
Examples of this tree, which deserves to be more widely planted, are: East Bergholt Place, Suffolk, 30 × 23⁄4 ft at 2 ft (1972); Embley Park, Hants, 25 × 11⁄2 ft (1971); Exbury, Hants, 25 × 11⁄4 ft (1970); Westonbirt, Glos., 26 × 2 ft (1971); Caerhays, Cornwall, 25 × 21⁄4 ft (1971).