Premna microphylla
species of plant
Premna microphylla is a tree in the mint family (Lamiaceae).
Names
P. microphylla has the English common names Japanese premna, (Japanese) musk maple, and Japanese neem tree. It is also called tofu tree because of the tofu-like food made from the leaves.
The specific epithet microphylla derives from Greek μικροϛ (micros) and φυλλον (phyllon) and means 'small leaves'. The name for the genus Premna derives from the Greek πρέμνον (premnon, tree stump) refers to the short trunks that some species have.
In Japanese it is called ハマクサギ (hamakusagi). In China, it is known as 豆腐柴 (dòufu chái 'tofu wood'), 斑鸠树 (bānjiū shù 'turtledove tree'), 臭黄荆 (chòu huáng jīng 'stinky yellow thorn'), 腐蜱 (fǔ pí 'rotten tick'), and 观音草 (guānyīn cǎo 'Guanyin grass'). In Taiwan it is called 臭黃荊 (chòu huáng jīng) The plant is called cách lá nhỏ in Vietnamese.
Description
P. microphylla is a tree and has square, woody, mostly smooth stems and branches. The plant reaches 2–6 m (6 ft 7 in – 19 ft 8 in) in height, and around 3 m (9.8 ft) wide.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Premna microphylla” is species of plant. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Premna, microphylla and species, not as a finished interpretation.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15244762. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Premna microphylla” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.