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Cleyera japonica (Sakaki) - An upright billowing evergreen shrub that typically is found in cultivation growing to 8-12 feet tall by 6-10 feet wide but older plants can reach tree-like proportions. It has rounded 3-4-inch-long leaves with acute tips that are dark green above and dull olive green below and have reddish-bronze new growth. The small delightfully fragrant creamy-white flowers appear in mid-summer and are often followed by small round black fruit.
Plant in cool coastal full sun to light shade with well-drained soil and give regular irrigation. Listed as hardy to at least USDA Zone 7 so this plant should be cold hardy to 5° F. A nice screening plant with flushes of reddish new growth and pleasant smelling small flowers.
Cleyera japonica grows naturally as a small tree in humid forests of Japan, Korea and mainland China. In the Shinto religion this tree is particularly sacred and given the name Sakaki. It has long been placed in the Tea and Camellia family, the Theaceae and sometimes confused in the trade with the related but very different Ternstroemia gymnanthera with both moved to . Recent DNA testing has recently reclassified both of these genera and they are now members the Pentaphylacaceae family
We first got our propagation stock of this attractive plant from the Huntington Botanic Garden in the late 1980s and grew it between 2006 and 2015 and there is a beautiful 25 foot tall specimen tree of it in the nursery garden.
The information displayed on this page about Cleyera japonica is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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