The Red-leaved hornbeam (Carpinus laxiflora) belongs to Betulaceae (the Birch family). It is a tall deciduous tree that is distributed throughout Japan, as well as the Korean Peninsula. This tree grows in wet places at hills and mountains, can reach about 15 m in height. The barks are dark gray with many lenticels, and the old tree has prominent streaked dents. The leaves are ovate to ovate-elliptic, alternate with irregular duplicato-serratus edges. This tree is monoecis, the upward female inflorescences and the drooping male ones are borne as soon as foliatin in April to May. The fruits are nuts and the fruit clusters are drooping. The leaves turn orange to red in fall, though they occationally do not turn colored in the woods.