Machilus thunbergii

Machilus thunbergii is an evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae), reaching 15-20 meters in height with a broad, dense crown. The bark is grayish-brown and relatively smooth on younger trees, becoming finely fissured with age. Leaves are alternate, simple, leathery, and obovate to elliptic, 8-15 cm long with entire margins, glossy dark green above and paler below, with prominent pinnate venation. The petioles are stout and reddish. Small yellowish-green flowers are borne in axillary panicles in spring; each flower has six perianth lobes and nine fertile stamens. The fruit is a small globose drupe, 8-10 mm in diameter, ripening from green to blue-black on a swollen red pedicel. The species is native to East Asia, particularly coastal regions of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and southern China, where it grows in warm-temperate evergreen broadleaf forests near the sea.