Evergreen shrubs or trees with simple coriaceous leaves and white or pink flowers. Calyx-limb deciduous. Berry pulpy, 1- or 2-celled, 1- or 2-seeded. A small genus of about five species from Japan and China, closely allied to Photinia. Name from a needle, and a scale, referring to the slender bracts.

1. R. ovata. - A handsome shrub with glossy dark green oval or obovate leaves crowded at the end of the branches. Flowers white, fragrant, about eight lines in diameter, arranged in large terminal thyrsoid panicles. Japan.