Photinia glabra (Japanese photinia, "Kanamemochi")

Japanese name: カナメモチ （要黐）
Scientific name: Photinia glabra

[Overview]
An evergreen shrub to tree, about 5 m tall, found in low mountains in warm regions.
The leaves are simple and alternate, oblong to narrowly obovate, 7–12 cm long and 2–4 cm wide, firm in texture, with a glossy surface.
There are 10–18 pairs of lateral veins.
The leaf margin is finely serrated throughout.
The young shoots are tinged with red.
Corymbs at the branch tips bear many white flowers with 5 petals.
The flowers are 0.7–0.8 cm across, with many stamens about as long as the petals.
The fruit is ovoid and ripens red.

[Uses]
The wood is hard and is used for the handles of tools such as sickles.
It is used as a folk medicine.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from cuttings.
It prefers sunny, well-drained, fertile soil.
If sunlight is poor, the branches become sparse and the color of the new shoots is poor.
For established plants, rainfall is sufficient unless sunny weather continues in summer and the soil becomes severely dry.
Apply organic fertilizer in winter.
Prune in early summer, when the color of the new shoots has settled, and in September; however, flower buds form in summer, so if pruned in September, the plant will not flower the following year.
Pests and diseases include powdery mildew, brown spot, sesame-colored leaf spot, anthracnose, and borers (larvae of longhorn beetles).

[Notes]
A strain with especially vivid red new shoots is sometimes called Beni-kanamemochi.

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