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"Maruba-nikkei" (Cinnamomum daphnoides) belongs to the Lauraceae (the Laurel family). It is a semi-tall evergreen tree that is native to Kyushu and the Nansei Islands. This tree grows in coastal rocky places, sandy places and the mountaintops, and can reach about 10 m in height. It is much branched. The leaves are obovate, leathery with conspicuous three parallel-vein, and arranged in opposite or alternate. The umbels are borne at the axils, and bloom small yellowish green flowers, twice in June and December to January. The fruit is a elliptic berry and ripens purple-black in November.
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