Leaves are alternate and gathered at the top of shoots, narrowly oblong to elliptic, acute to acuminate or obtuse at the apex, acute to rounded at the base, entire, coriaceous, deep green and lustrous above, glaucous beneath.

Flowers in May to June, in axillary racemes on annotinous shoots.

Drupes maturing blackish purple in November, ellipsoid.

It is widely distributed in the warm-temperate to subtropical zone.

The wood is used for utensils, turneries. The villagers prefer the leafy shoot of this tree for new year's decorations in Japan.

Distribution ; Honshu (Ibaragi to south), Shikoku, Kyushu, Ryukyu