Japanese name: モクレイシ（木茘枝） Scientific name:Microtropis japonica var. japonica
[Overview]
An evergreen small tree found in evergreen forests near the coast.
The current year's twigs are dark purple.
The leaves are simple and opposite, ovate to rhombic-elliptic, 4.5–8 cm long and 2–4 cm wide, leathery, and hairless on both surfaces.
The leaf margins are entire.
It is dioecious.
Flowers are borne densely in cyme-like inflorescences emerging from the leaf axils of the current year's twigs.
The flowers are small, 0.5–0.8 cm across, pale yellowish green, with 5 petals.
The fruit is an elliptic capsule 1.5–2 cm long; when it ripens green, it splits and releases red seeds.
