Japanese name: クロバイ（黒灰） Scientific name:Symplocos prunifolia var. prunifolia
[Overview]
An evergreen small tree 5–8 m tall, found in somewhat dry forests from the mountains to the hills.
The bark is dark grayish brown.
Leaves are simple and alternate, dark green, elliptic to oblong, 4–8 cm long and 2–3 cm wide, with a slightly tail-like extended tip and low serrations on the margin.
The leaves are glossy, thick and leathery, and hairless on both sides.
The petiole is 1 cm long and usually tinged with purplish brown.
Racemes 3–7 cm long arise from the leaf axils in the upper part of the previous year's branches and bear rather dense flowers.
The corolla is 8 mm across, white and deeply 5-lobed, with many long stamens.
The fruit is narrowly ovate, 6–7 mm long, and ripens to blackish purple.
[Uses]
The ash of the wood was used as a mordant, and a decoction of the leaves was used for dyeing.
[Notes]
The Japanese name comes from the blackish trunk and leaves and from the fact that ash was made from it.
