Polyscias

Polyscias is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae with a natural distribution from tropical Africa through Southeast Asia and Australia to islands of the Pacific. As of February 2026, Plants of the World Online recognises 28 synonyms and about 180 species for the genus. They are shrubs, trees or (rarely) lianes, which are mostly evergreen or occasionally deciduous. The leaves are alternate and have a membraneous or winged sheathing base of the petioles. Stipules are either absent or vestigial. Leaf morphology is varied: they may be undivided or pinnate, bipinnate or tripinnate, and the margins may be entire, toothed or lobed. Flower characters are likewise varied, and inflorescences may be erect or pendant, and take the form of panicles, umbels, racemes, or whorls. The genus was erected in 1776 by Johann Reinhold Forster and his son Georg Forster, to accommodate a plant specimen they had collected in the South Pacific. The name Polyscias is derived from the Greek words πολύς (polys), 'many', and skias, 'shade' or 'umbrella', and is a reference to the foliage of the plants. There are about six species of the genus Polyscias that are actively cultivated.