Japanese name: ゴシュユ（呉茱萸） Scientific name:Tetradium ruticarpum
[Overview]
A deciduous shrub 3–5 m tall.
The young branches are densely covered with short soft hairs.
The leaves are opposite, odd-pinnately compound, 16–35 cm long, with 5–9 leaflets.
The leaflets are elliptic to obovate, 6–15 cm long and 3–7 cm wide, with entire margins.
The underside of the leaves, the petioles and the leaf axes are densely covered with soft hairs.
Dioecious.
Cymes at the branch tips bear many flowers.
The axis of the inflorescence is densely covered with brown soft hairs.
Both male and female flowers are just under 1 cm across, greenish white and 5-petaled.
The fruit is flattened and spherical, ripens red, and splits into 5 parts when ripe.
[Uses]
The fruit is used medicinally.
[Notes]
Only female plants have been introduced to Japan, so no seeds are produced, but it spreads well by underground stems.
