Japan Flora: Small tree with stout gray-brown coarsely spreading hirsute branches while young; leaves thick- herbaceous, oblique, broadly ovate, 7-18 cm. long, 5-15 cm. wide, short-acuminate, shallowly cordate at base, coarsely hirsute, dull, toothed, often deeply 3- to 5-lobed, deep green and scabrous above, pale green beneath, the stipules broadly lanceolate or obliquely narrow-ovate, acuminate, deciduous; staminate spikes cylindric, densely many-flowered, 4-8 cm. long, the peduncles 2-4 cm. long, pendulous, the perianth coarsely hairy; pistillate spikes densely many-flowered, globose, short pedunculate, about 2 cm. across, villous; style slender, filiform; drupe exserted from the perianth when mature, red, oblanceolate, the style persistent. May-June.

Honshu(warmer part of centr. distr. and westw.), Shikoku, Kyushu; cultivated for making paper. Ryukyus, Formosa, China, and Malaysia.

Korea Flora: Deciduous tree, usually in a shrub state. Height up to 12 meters. Diameter up to 60 cm. Winter buds and young branches egg-shaped, pointed at the tip (1-3 mm long), and 2-3 scales. Hairs densely present on the young branches. broadly elliptical. Leaves either alternate or opposite, broadly egg-shaped or rounded at the base, with a tail-like elongated tip and usually lobed. The base heart-shaped, with sizes ranging from 7-20 cm × 7-12 cm. The edges either singly or doubly serrated. leaf surface hairy and rough, and the underside, along with the petiole, glandular hairs. Stipules egg-shaped, purple, and fall off early. Petioles 2-10 cm long. Dioecious. Flowers bloom early along with the leaves. Male inflorescences axillary on the lower part of new branches, cylindrical (2-9 cm long), and drooping. Female inflorescences spherical (2 cm in diameter). Male flowers 4 petals and 4 stamens. Female flowers tubular petals, 3-4 in number, with a prominent ovary and long style. Fruits round, 2 cm in diameter, with a short fruit stalk. outer skin red, and the inner shell hard, brown, and has one ridge.

Sporophyte chromosome number: 26.

Flowering Early June to mid-July.

Fruiting September.

Distribution: India, Malaysia, Pacific islands, northern to southern China, Taiwan, southern Honshu to Okinawa in Japan; Chungcheongnamdo, Jeollanamdo, and Gyeongsangnamdo in Korea.