Japanese name: ツタウルシ（蔦漆） Scientific name:Toxicodendron orientale subsp. orientale
[Overview]
A deciduous woody climber found in forests.
It produces aerial roots and climbs tree trunks.
Young branches are at first densely covered with brown hairs.
Leaves are alternate and trifoliate.
The leaflets are ovate-elliptic, and the lower part of the lateral leaflets is lopsided.
The terminal leaflet is bilaterally symmetrical, 5–15 cm long and 3–9 cm wide, with an entire margin.
Brown hairs grow at the bases of the lateral veins on the underside of the leaf and on the petiole.
The petiole is 3–10 cm long.
The leaves turn red in autumn.
Dioecious; both male and female flowers are borne in large numbers on racemes arising from the leaf axils, and are small, yellowish green and 5-petaled.
The fruit is oblate, 5 mm across, and ripens to yellowish brown with sparse short hairs, but the exocarp soon peels off, exposing the white, waxy mesocarp.
[Notes]
Caution is necessary, as it is so toxic that even touching it can cause a rash.
