Litsea cubeba

May chang
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Magnoliids
Order:	Laurales
Family:	Lauraceae
Genus:	Litsea
Species:	L. cubeba
Binomial name
Litsea cubeba (Lour.) Pers.

Litsea cubeba, the aromatic litsea or may chang, is an evergreen tree or shrub 5–12 meters high in the family Lauraceae. It is native to Southern Chinese regions including Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Fujian as well as Taiwan and other Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia. It is called "mountain pepper" (山胡椒; pinyin: shānhújiāo), "mujiangzi" (木姜子; pinyin: mùjiāngzǐ) or "douchijiang" (豆豉姜; pinyin: dòuchǐjiāng) in Mandarin and maqaw (馬告) by the Atayal of Taiwan. It produces a fruit which is processed for its lemony essential oil. The oil can also be extracted from the leaf, but this is considered to be lower in quality. The timber is sometimes used for making furniture and crafts. Plant parts are also used in medicine.