Aucuba japonica var. japonica (Japanese aucuba, "Aoki")

Japanese name: アオキ （青木）
Scientific name: Aucuba japonica var. japonica

[Overview]
An evergreen shrub 2–3 m tall, found in slightly moist evergreen broad-leaved forests and cedar forests.
The branches are dark green and branch freely from the plant base.
The leaves are simple and opposite, 8–20 cm long and 2–10 cm wide, broadly elliptic-ovate to broadly lanceolate, thick, and glossy on the upper surface.
The leaf margins have coarse teeth.
The leaves turn black when dry.
The leaf stalk is 1–5 cm long.
It is dioecious.
Panicles are produced at the branch tips.
The male inflorescence is 5–15 cm long and the female inflorescence is 2–5 cm long.
The flowers are 4-petaled, 8–10 mm across, and green to purplish brown.
Male flowers have 4 stamens and a disc, and female flowers have a horn-shaped ovary.
Female plants bear fruit; the fruit is an elliptic drupe 12–20 mm long that ripens red.

[Uses]
The leaves are used as a folk medicine.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed, by cuttings, or by layering.
For seed, collect fully ripe fruit, wash the pulp off thoroughly with water, and sow immediately.
It is easy to grow.
It can grow from sun to shade, but strong direct sunlight in summer may scorch the leaves.
Variegated cultivars develop poor coloring in shade.
It prefers slightly moist, fertile soil, and poor drainage may cause root rot.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries.
In spring, apply slow-release fertilizer around the base of the plant.
It dislikes pruning, but if pruning is done, cut just above a node.
Pests and diseases include brown spot, anthracnose, scale insects, broad mites and Aoki gall midges.

[Notes]
The Japanese name is said to derive from the fresh green color of the branches.

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