Lindera obtusiloba

Lindera obtusiloba, commonly known as Japanese spicebush or blunt-lobed spicebush, is a deciduous shrub or small tree of the family Lauraceae, native to eastern Asia (China, Korea, Japan and the Russian Far East), where it grows in mixed and deciduous forests, often on slopes and in valleys between 100 and 3000 m elevation. The plant typically reaches 3–8 m in height, with smooth, dark grey-brown bark and slender, aromatic branches. The alternate leaves are deciduous, long-petiolate, and distinctively variable in shape: many leaves are broadly ovate to circular with three shallow obtuse lobes at the apex (giving the specific epithet), while others are unlobed; they measure 5–12 cm long, with three prominent palmate veins from the base, and turn brilliant yellow in autumn. The plant is dioecious; small, yellow-green, fragrant flowers are produced in dense axillary umbels in early spring before the leaves expand, each cluster of five to ten flowers. The fruit is a globose drupe 7–8 mm across, ripening from green through red to glossy black.