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The "Izu-senryo" (Maesa japonica) belongs to Myrsinaceae (the Myrsine family). It is a small evergreen tree that is distributed westward from Ibaraki prefecture of Honshu to Shikoku, Kyushu of Japan, Taiwan, Jeju-do, central and southern China and the Indo-China Peninsula. This tree grows in wet forests and can reach 1-1.5 m in height. The leaves are oblong and alternate with acute tips. The clusters are borne on the axiles and bloom yellowish-white flowers from April to May. The fruits are round and ripen in milky white from late fall to winter. In Tawanese Chinese, it is called "山桂花", and "杜茎山" (du jing shan) in Chinese.
In Korean, it's called "bil-le-na-mu" (빌레나무). This is a compound word consisting of "bil-le" (빌레) + "tree" (na-mu: 나무). "bil-le" is a Jeju dialect term meaning "neo-reok-ba-wi" (너럭바위: a wide, flat rock formation). It was given this name because it grows wild in the crevices of these rocks.
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