八角金盘 ba jiao jin pan

Aralia japonica Thunberg, Nova Acta Regiae Soc. Sci. Upsal. 3: 207. 1780.

Shrubs, to ca. 5 m tall. Young branches, leaves, and inflorescences densely woolly tomentose, later glabrescent. Petiole 10-30 cm; leaf blade nearly orbicular, (5-)7-9(-11) cm wide, leathery, with 7-9 deeply cleft, narrowly ovate-elliptic lobes, both surfaces glabrous, base cordate to truncate-cordate, margin crenate to crenate-serrate, teeth rounded to blunt, apex acuminate. Inflorescence a panicle of umbels; primary axis 20-40 cm; peduncles 10-15 cm; umbels 3-4 cm in diam., with numerous flowers; pedicels 1-1.5 cm. Calyx rim indistinctly denticulate. Petals ovate, 3-4 mm. Ovary 5-carpellate; styles 5, free, ca. 1.5 mm. Fruit globose, ca. 5 mm in diam. Fl. Oct-Nov, fr. Feb-May. 2n = 24, 48.

Widely cultivated or occasionally naturalized in gardens or secondary vegetation; below 200 m. Anhui, Fujian, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang [native to Japan].

Many cultivars are used as ornamentals.