Chinese, Japanese or Red Bayberry                mi-RI-ka RU-bra

• Broadleaf evergreen tree, generally to 15-30 ft (~5-10 m) high, rounded shape.  Leaves alternate, simple, leaf blade cuneate-obovate or narrowly elliptic-obovate, 5-14 × 1-4 cm, leathery, glabrous, base wedge-shaped (cuneate), apex obtuse to acute, margin entire or serrate in upper 1/2, upper suface dark green, lower pale green and sparsely to moderately golden glandular.  Dioecious-- male and female flowers on separate plants; male catkins (spikes) simple or inconspicuously branched, solitary or sometimes few together in leaf axils, 1-3 cm long, anthers dark red, ellipsoid; female catkines (spikes) solitary in leaf axils, 0.5-1.5 cm, many flowered.  Fruit a drupe, dark red or purple-red at maturity, globose, 1-1.5 cm in diameter, to 3 cm when cultivated, sweet, edible.
• Sun, or partial shade, best in moist soils.  
• Hardy to USDA Zone 10 (sub-tropical)       Native to eastern Asia, China, Japan, Korea, Philippines; found in warm coastal areas.