A Japanese shrub with glossy, evergreen leaves, often grown indoors as an ornamental houseplant with variegated or spotted foliage.
From Japanese 'aokiba' or similar, referring to the plant. The name was Latinized when the plant was introduced to Western botanical classification in the 18th century.
Aucuba is a perfect example of a houseplant that colonized Victorian homes—it thrives in dark corners where other plants would die, making it the original 'low-maintenance' plant that allowed people with no natural light to have greenery!
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