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The Japanese aralia (Fatsia japonica) belongs to Araliaceae (the Ginseng family). It is a small evergreen tree that is distributed from Honshu to Shikoku, Kyushu in Japan, as well as the Korean Peninsula and China. This small tree grows in warm coastal area, and it can reach 1-3 m in height. Leaves are huge, up to 30 cm wide, and deeply 7-9 lobed and slightly serrated. From late fall to early winter, globose umbels of small whitish flowers are seen on terminal branch. Fruits are small oblate berries and ripen purplish-black in late spring. Japanese aralia is now cultivated all over the world in landscapes and as a container plant. In Chinese, it is called "八角金盤" (ba jiao jin pan).
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