''Distylium racemosum'', the isu tree, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Hamamelidaceae Hamamelidaceae, commonly referred to as the witch-hazel family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales. The clade consists of shrubs and small trees positioned within the woody clade of the core Saxifragales. An earlier syste ...

. It is native to subtropical eastern Asia; central and southern Japan, the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

, South Korea ( Jeju Island), southeastern China, Taiwan,

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

, and northern Vietnam. There are a number of cultivars, including 'Guppy' and the variegated 'Akebono'.

References

Hamamelidaceae Ornamental trees Garden plants of Asia Flora of Eastern Asia Flora of Southeast China Flora of Hainan Flora of Vietnam Plants described in 1841 {{Saxifragales-stub