Aucuba japonica
Thunb. · speciesAt a glance
Sources13 archives
Databases and archives Aucuba japonica's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation12 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility11 956 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI39 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics22 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
dukesphytochemcompounds
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
Aucuba japonica, commonly called spotted laurel, Japanese laurel, Japanese aucuba or gold dust plant (U.S.), is a shrub (1 –) native to rich forest soils of moist valleys, thickets, by streams and near shaded moist rocks in China, Korea, and Japan.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families This is the species of Aucuba commonly seen in gardens - often in variegated form. The leaves are opposite, broad lanceolate, 5 – long and 2 – wide. Aucuba japonica are dioecious. The flowers are small, 4 – diameter, each with four purplish-brown petals; they are produced in clusters of 10-30 in a loose cyme. The fruit is a red drupe approximately 1 cm in diameter that is avoided by birds. The variegation, considered by some to be an attractive property, is caused by 'Aucuba bacilliform', a putative species of virus in the genus Badnavirus.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology12
Life cycle & reproduction6
Diet & foraging1
Habitat & environment8
Physiology & chemistry7
Compounds documented for Aucuba japonica across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds13 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| AUCUBIN | 50 ppm | DukesPhytochem |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Aucuba japonica has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
The complete instruction manual Aucuba japonica carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
2n 3210×CCDB · nw-europe-fl · CCDB · ipcn-api-dl · CCDB · book-ipcn67-71 +2
2n 163×CCDB · ipcn-api-dl · CCDB · book-ipcn73-74
2n 361×CCDB · book-fedorov
polyploid inferred1×PloiDB · genus-scale
Record type11 956 records
Origin
Range
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions61 of 102 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Odawara, JP | 140 |
| Nagano City, JP | 112 |
| Chiba, JP | 101 |
| Bando, JP | 76 |
| Kochi, JP | 68 |
| Sanda, JP | 64 |
| Taipei, TW | 61 |
| KURAlocation not on record | 53 |
| Nagatoro-machi, Chichibu-gun, JP | 32 |
| FFPRIlocation not on record | 28 |
| Sagamihara, JP | 20 |
| KR | 13 |
| NSMKlocation not on record | 12 |
| MeiseBGlocation not on record | 11 |
| Herbarium of the Department of Botany, University of Tokyolocation not on record | 11 |
| Osaka, JP | 11 |
| University of Stellenboschlocation not on record | 9 |
| Beijing, CN | 8 |
| WTUlocation not on record | 8 |
| Fukushima Universitylocation not on record | 8 |
| Bangkok, TH | 6 |
| Vancouver, CA | 6 |
| Bern, CH | 6 |
| Taipei, TW | 6 |
| National Institute of Biological Resourceslocation not on record | 5 |
| Zhejiang Universitylocation not on record | 5 |
| KOMlocation not on record | 5 |
| Auckland, NZ | 4 |
| Rotorua, NZ | 4 |
| Guangzhou, CN | 4 |
| Hangzhou, CN | 4 |
| TAIElocation not on record | 4 |
| LDlocation not on record | 3 |
| Long Beach, US | 3 |
| Museo Entomologico de Leonlocation not on record | 3 |
| GJOlocation not on record | 3 |
| SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record | 3 |
| South Kensington, GB | 3 |
| Akita Prefectural Museumlocation not on record | 3 |
| Bronx, US | 3 |
| Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record | 3 |
| DOI/NPS, Colonial National Historical Parklocation not on record | 3 |
| Tomioka, JP | 3 |
| Philadelphia, US | 3 |
| Nanjing, CN | 3 |
| College of the Atlantic, Museumlocation not on record | 3 |
| CICYTEXlocation not on record | 3 |
| Saint Louis, US | 3 |
| BIO-UNIPIlocation not on record | 3 |
| Knoxville, US | 2 |
| PRClocation not on record | 2 |
| Fort Worth, US | 2 |
| Institut und Museum fuer Geologie und Palaeontologielocation not on record | 2 |
| Chapel Hill, US | 2 |
| Angwin, US | 2 |
| Vitoria, ES | 2 |
| Museum Of Natural And Environmental History, Shizuokalocation not on record | 2 |
| Christchurch, NZ | 2 |
| Chongqing Museumlocation not on record | 2 |
| Toyota city nature sanctuarylocation not on record | 2 |
| Baroda, IN | 2 |
| Barcelona, ES | 2 |
| College Park, US | 2 |
| Tampa, US | 2 |
| Portland, US | 2 |
| Entomological Society of Latvialocation not on record | 2 |
| MAlocation not on record | 2 |
| Salzburg, AT | 2 |
| US | 2 |
| Universidade Federal do Maranhãolocation not on record | 1 |
| Oiso Municipal Museumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Sendai, JP | 1 |
| Tilburg, NL | 1 |
| Logan, US | 1 |
| Kew, GB | 1 |
| Clemson, US | 1 |
| Riverside, US | 1 |
| Washington, US | 1 |
| Pullman, US | 1 |
| Claremont, US | 1 |
| DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record | 1 |
| San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record | 1 |
| Herbarium of South China Botanical Gardenlocation not on record | 1 |
| Xinxiang, CN | 1 |
| Alexandria Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| Lausanne, CH | 1 |
| València, ES | 1 |
| Palmerston North, NZ | 1 |
| Canberra, AU | 1 |
| Royal Botanic Gardens, Kewlocation not on record | 1 |
| Ojo, NG | 1 |
| Jaén, ES | 1 |
| Nijmegen, NL | 1 |
| Universidad del Pais Vasco (UPV/EHU)location not on record | 1 |
| Durham, US | 1 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 1 |
| Edinburgh, GB | 1 |
| GZUlocation not on record | 1 |
| Kyoto Universitylocation not on record | 1 |
| KIWElocation not on record | 1 |
| Seoul, KR | 1 |
| DNSMlocation not on record | 1 |
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Where the DNA of Aucuba japonica was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.