Evergreen shrub to 4 m tall with cylindrical to slightly 4-angled branchlets. Leaves obovate or oblong, 3-7 cm long, leathery, toothed. Flower clusters with thick flattened stalks. Flowers pale greenish, about 5 mm wide; summer. Fruits round and not lobed, pink; seeds with orange aril.
E. lucidus D. Don from the Himalayan region flowers in spring and has new leaves mostly 6-10 cm long that are glossy red and remain glossy above, the margins strongly toothed.
China, Japan, Korea.
Source: (2002). Celastraceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 3. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 2. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Euonymus japonicus 'Albomarginatus'
Leaves with a narrow white border.
Euonymus japonicus 'Argenteovariegatus'
Leaves bordered and marked with white.
Euonymus japonicus 'Aureomarginatus'
Leaves yellow-edged.
Euonymus japonicus 'Aureovariegatus'
Leaves blotched with yellow.
Leaves yellow. Syn. 'Aureopictus'.
Euonymus japonicus 'Mediopictus'
Leaves with a large yellow blotch in the centre.
Euonymus japonicus 'Microphyllus Albovariegatus'
Leaves narrow, marked with white.
Euonymus japonicus 'Microphyllus Variegatus'
Dwarf, compact and dense shrub, the leaves with a white border.
Euonymus japonicus 'Microphyllus'
Dwarf. Leaves small. Branches upright. Int. Siebold.
Euonymus japonicus 'Ovatus Aureus'
Leaves oval, blotched and with a broad yellow border.
Euonymus japonicus 'Tom Thumb Dwarf'
Name of uncertain origin.