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Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
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'Cleyera japonica' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
An evergreen shrub or small tree to about 12 ft high, glabrous in all its parts. Leaves alternate, leathery, entire, narrow-oblong to ovate-oblong, 23⁄4 to 4 in. long, 4⁄5 to 13⁄5 in. wide, bluntly pointed at the apex, narrowly wedge-shaped at the base, glossy deep green above, paler beneath; leaf-stalks to 4⁄5 in. long. Flowers white to yellowish white, about 1⁄2 in. across, borne singly or up to three together in each leaf-axil on the previous year’s wood, or on short spurs; flower-stalks 2⁄5 to 3⁄5 in. long, with two small early deciduous bracteoles; sepals five, rounded, about 1⁄8 in. long; petals rather fleshy, narrow-oblong; stamens numerous, anthers bearded; style with two or three stigmas. Fruit a pea-sized berry, red ripening to black.
Native of Japan, Formosa, Korea, China, Burma, Assam and of the Himalaya as far west as Nepal. As might be expected from so wide a distribution, the species is very variable. The plants in cultivation seem to fall under one or other of two varieties, namely:
Synonyms
C. japonica var. kaempferiana (DC.) Sealy
C. ochnacea var. kaempferiana DC
Synonyms
C. ochnacea var. wallichiana DC