モチモキ科モチノキ属の落葉低木で、学名は Ilex serrata。英名は Japanese winterberry。
The Japanese winterberry (Ilex serrata) belongs to Aquifoliaceae (the Holly family). It is a small deciduous tree that is an endemic species of Japan, and distributed from Honshu west to Shikoku and Kyushu. This tree grows in the waste places of mountains and can reach 2-3 m in height. This tree is also planted as a garden tree or a flora art. Leaves are elliptic to ovate-elliptic with fine and acute toothed edges. The Japanese name comes from its leaves, which resemble "ume" (Japanese apricot). Pale purple flowers on the axils of new branch come in June. This tree is dioecism, nothing but female plant bears fruits. Fruits are berries and ripen bright red in late fall, and they remain through winter. There is also white berry species.