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Aucuba
 
 
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Aucuba is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of three to ten species of flowering plant
Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
s, now placed in the family Garryaceae
Garryaceae

Garryaceae is a small family of dicotyledons, including only two genera:*Garrya. About 16-18 species.*Aucuba. About 3-10 species.The family is found in warm temperate and subtropical regions, Garrya in North America, and Aucuba in eastern Asia....
, although formerly classed in the Aucubaceae or Cornaceae
Cornaceae

The Dogwood family is a widespread family, mostly in the north temperate zone, in the order Cornales. The family mostly comprises woody shrubs and trees, in about fifteen genera, although which genera properly belong to this family is controversial....
.

Aucuba species are native to eastern Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, from the eastern Himalaya east to Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. They are evergreen
Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
 shrub
Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
s or small tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s 2-13 m tall, similar in appearance to the laurels of the genus Laurus
Laurus

Laurus is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the Laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus includes three species, whose diagnostic key characters often overlap ....
, having glossy, leathery leaves, and are sometimes mistakenly called laurels.

The leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 are opposite, broad lanceolate, 8-25 cm long and 2-7 cm broad, with a few large teeth on the margin near the apex of the leaf.






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Encyclopedia


Aucuba is a genus
Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
 of three to ten species of flowering plant
Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
s, now placed in the family Garryaceae
Garryaceae

Garryaceae is a small family of dicotyledons, including only two genera:*Garrya. About 16-18 species.*Aucuba. About 3-10 species.The family is found in warm temperate and subtropical regions, Garrya in North America, and Aucuba in eastern Asia....
, although formerly classed in the Aucubaceae or Cornaceae
Cornaceae

The Dogwood family is a widespread family, mostly in the north temperate zone, in the order Cornales. The family mostly comprises woody shrubs and trees, in about fifteen genera, although which genera properly belong to this family is controversial....
.

Aucuba species are native to eastern Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, from the eastern Himalaya east to Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. They are evergreen
Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
 shrub
Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
s or small tree
TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
s 2-13 m tall, similar in appearance to the laurels of the genus Laurus
Laurus

Laurus is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the Laurel family, Lauraceae. The genus includes three species, whose diagnostic key characters often overlap ....
, having glossy, leathery leaves, and are sometimes mistakenly called laurels.

The leaves
Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
 are opposite, broad lanceolate, 8-25 cm long and 2-7 cm broad, with a few large teeth on the margin near the apex of the leaf. Aucubas are dioecious
Plant sexuality

Plant sexuality covers the wide variety of sexual reproduction systems found across the plant kingdom. This article describes Morphology aspects of sexual reproduction of plants....
, having separate male and female plants. The flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s are small, 4-8 mm diameter, with four purplish-brown petals; they are produced in clusters of 10-30 in a loose cyme
Cyme

Cyme or CYME can refer to:* Cyme, a kind of Inflorescence#Organisation *Kymi, ancient Cumae, a city in Euboea, Greece*Cyme or Kymi, ancient Greek colony on the coast of Aeolia, present-day Namurt in Turkey...
. The fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
 is a red berry
Berry

In everyday English, a berry is a broad term for any small edible fruit. Most berries are juicy, round or semi-oblong, brightly coloured, sweet or sour, and don't have a stone or pit....
 1 cm diameter.

Species Three species (A. chinensis, A. himalaica, A. japonica) have traditionally been accepted, but the recent Flora of China accepts ten species:
  • Aucuba albopunctifolia. Southern China. Shrub to 2-6 m tall.
  • Aucuba chinensis. Southern China, Taiwan, Myanmar, northern Vietnam. Shrub to 3-6 m tall.
  • Aucuba chlorascens. Southwest China (Yunnan). Shrub to 7 m tall.
  • Aucuba confertiflora. Southwest China (Yunnan). Shrub to 4 m tall.
  • Aucuba eriobotryifolia. Southwest China (Yunnan). Small tree to 13 m tall.
  • Aucuba filicauda. Southern China. Shrub to 4 m tall.
  • Aucuba himalaica. Eastern Himalaya, southern China, northern Myanmar. Small tree to 8-10 m tall.
  • Aucuba japonica
    Aucuba japonica

    Spotted Laurel is a shrub native to woods in lowland and mountains all over Japan and China. In rich forest soils of moist valleys, dense forests, thickets, by streams and near shaded moist rocks in China....
    . Southern Japan, southern Korea, Taiwan, southeast China (Zhejiang). Shrub to 4 m tall.
  • Aucuba obcordata. Southern China. Shrub to 4 m tall.
  • Aucuba robusta. Southern China (Guangxi). Shrub.


Cultivation and uses

A. japonica is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant
Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are typically grown in the flower garden or as house plants. Most commonly they are grown for the display of their flowers. Other common ornamental features include leaves, scent, fruit, Plant stem and bark....
 by gardeners, and there are a number of cultivar
Cultivar

A cultivar is a cultivated plant that has been selected and given a unique name because of its decorative or useful characteristics; it is usually distinct from similar plants and when Plant propagation it retains those characteristics....
s available from garden centres. The most popular cultivar is 'Variegata', with yellow spots on the leaves; this is a female clone, a similar male clone is named 'Maculata'. It is often referred to as 'Japanese laurel', and 'spotted laurel', and is valued for its colourful evergreen foliage, and large bright red berries

External links

  • Flavon's art gallery