Leaves are alternate, thinly coriaceous, oblong, caudate and abruptly mucronate at the apex, undulately toothed, deep green and lustrous above.

White flowers open in axillary 3-6 corymbose racemes on annotinous shoots in April to May.

This tree is found abundantly as the undergrowth of the fir hemlock forests in the warm temperate zone.

The wood is used for chessmen, chopsticks.

Distribution ; Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu