Leaves are alternate, odd pinnate, with short petioles.

Leaflets are herbaceous, ovate, remotely crenate.

Small staminate yellow flowers open in April to May.

Capsules ripen to red in September.

It grows in the warm to cool temperate zone.

The wood is used for sticks, wooden pestles. Young leaves, barks and seeds are used as the Japanese spices.

Distribution ; Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, Korea, Manchuria, China