A shrub or small tree to 40 ft high, with grey-brown unarmed branches; young growths hairy. Leaflets five on a common stalk 3 to 11 in. long; terminal leaflets 4 to 6 in. long and 13⁄4 to 23⁄4 in. wide, the lateral ones smaller, obovate or elliptic to oblong, abruptly pointed at the apex, rounded or cuneate at the base, glabrous beneath except for axillary tufts of brown hairs; margins toothed. Umbels arranged in a large, loosely branched panicle borne in late summer on the wood of the season. Fruits globose, black-purple.
Native of Japan. John Gould Veitch, who saw it growing wild about a century ago in the mountains of Nikko and on Mt Hakkoda, later reported that ‘its handsome foliage would impart a distinctive feature to our park scenery’; but there is no record of its having been introduced to Britain. It may however be in cultivation in Germany and the U.S.A.