Lindera umbellata

Lindera umbellata, known in Japanese as kuromoji, is a deciduous understorey shrub or small tree in the Lauraceae native to Japan, the Korean peninsula, and parts of eastern China, where it grows in cool temperate broadleaf and mixed forests. Plants typically reach 2 to 6 metres in height, with slender, smooth, dark olive green to blackish young branches marked by raised pale lenticels and emitting a strong spicy aromatic scent when broken. The alternate, simple leaves are elliptic to oblong-obovate, 5 to 12 centimetres long, with entire margins, an acuminate apex, and three prominent veins from the base; foliage turns clear yellow in autumn. The species is dioecious, with small clusters of pale yellowish green, six-tepaled flowers borne in axillary umbels on bare twigs in early spring before the leaves expand. The fruit is a small globose drupe maturing from green to glossy black. The aromatic wood and twigs are distilled for kuromoji essential oil, used in fragrance and craft toothpicks.