Japanese name: ムクロジ（無患子） Scientific name:Sapindus mukorossi
[Overview]
A deciduous tree up to 25 m tall.
The leaves are alternate and even-pinnately compound, 30–70 cm long and 7–20 cm wide, with 4–8 pairs of leaflets.
The leaflets are narrowly oblong-elliptic, 7–20 cm long and 2.5–5 cm wide, with an asymmetrical base.
Panicles 20–30 cm long appear at the branch tips and bear many small yellow-green flowers with 4–5 petals.
There are male and female flowers.
The fruit is spherical, about 2 cm across, and ripens yellow; it contains a hard, black, spherical seed about 1 cm across.
[Uses]
The pericarp contains saponin and was used like soap, and was also used medicinally.
The seeds are used as material for juzu (Buddhist prayer beads) and for the balls used in hanetsuki (a Japanese battledore-and-shuttlecock game).
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed.
In warm regions, it grows well in any soil as long as the site is sunny.
