Lindera obtusiloba ("Dankobai")

Japanese name: ダンコウバイ （檀香梅）
Scientific name: Lindera obtusiloba

[Overview]
A deciduous shrub to small tree 4–8 m tall, found on mountain ridges and similar places.
In large plants the trunk does not stand upright, and the branches spread sideways.
Young branches are yellowish green.
The leaves are simple and alternate, ovate, 5–15 cm long and 4–13 cm wide, usually shallowly 3-lobed, with the lobes pointing toward the leaf tip.
Both surfaces of the leaf are at first covered with yellowish brown hairs, but later become hairless.
Three veins are conspicuous on the leaf, and the leaf margin is entire.
The petiole is 0.5–3 cm long.
The leaves turn yellow in autumn.
It is dioecious.
The flowers open before the leaves unfold, and umbels arise on short shoots emerging from the leaf axils of the previous year's branches.
The flowers are small and yellow, and the corolla is 6-lobed; there are 5–10 male flowers and about 5 female flowers in each umbel.
The fruit is a spherical berry 8 mm across that ripens from red to blackish purple, and the seeds have a strong fragrance.

[Uses]
The wood is fragrant and, like that of kuromoji, is used for toothpicks and also in woodworking.
Seed oil is used for lamps, hair dressing, industry and medicine.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by cuttings or from seed.
Plants grown from seed will turn out to be male or female.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained, fertile soil that retains water well.
Avoid places where sunlight strikes the base of the plant or where strong afternoon sun falls, as these dry out easily.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries.
For plants in the ground, once established, watering is unnecessary unless sunny weather continues in midsummer and the soil becomes extremely dry.
For fertilizer in winter, dig a hole around the plant and bury compost.
There are no particular pests or diseases.

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