わが国の本州、東北地方南部から四国・九州それに朝鮮半島南部や中国に分布しています。暖地の山地に生え、高さは10メートルほどになります。樹皮は灰褐色で縦に割れ目が入り、楕円形の皮目があります。葉は長楕円形から倒披針形で互生し、枝先に集まってつきます。5月から6月ごろ、前年枝の葉腋から総状花序をだし、花弁も萼片もない小さな花を咲かせます。果実は核果で、10月から11月ごろ藍黒色に熟します。和名は、若葉が伸びてから古い葉が落ちることから。これを親が成長した子どもに後を譲るのにたとえて、おめでたい木とされ、古くから正月飾りに使われています。中国語では「交譲木(jiao rang mu)」と呼ばれます。
The "Yuzuri-ha" (Daphniphyllum macropodum) belongs to the family Daphniphyllaceae. It is a tall evergreen tree that is distributed from southern Tohoku district of Honshu west to Shikoku, Kyushu in Japan, as well as the southern Korean Peninsula and China. This tree grows in the mountains of warm climate area and can reach about 10 m in height. The barks are grayish brown, longitudinally fissuered and have elliptical lenticels. The leaves oblong to obolanceolate, alternate and fascicled at terminal branches. The small apetalous and non-sepal flowers come on the axillary racemes in May to June. The fruits are drupes and ripen indigo black in October to November. The Japanese name comes from the fact that the old leaves fall off after the young leaves have grown. This is compared to parents passing on their successors to their grown children, and the tree is considered a tree of congratulations. It has been used for New Year's decorations since ancient times. In Chinese, it is called "交譲木" (jiao rang mu).