ミズキ科アオキ属の常緑低木で、学名は Aucuba japonica。英名は Japanese aucuba、Spotted laurel。
The Japanese aucuba (Aucuba japonica) belongs to Cornaceae (the Dogwood family). It is a small evergreen tree that is native westward from Kanto district of Honshu to Shikoku, Kyushu in Japan and as well as Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula and southern China. This tree grows in unsunny forests and can reach 2-3 m in height. It is dioecious. The brownish purple flowers are borne in the terminal panicles from March to May. The male inflorescences are large, wide spread and the female ones are small. The fruits are elliptic and green in fall, ripen red in winter. The Japanese name comes from the fact that the branches are always green. In Taiwanese Chinese, it is called "東瀛珊瑚" and in Chinese "青木" (qing mu).