Nandina domestica ( ) commonly known as nandina, heavenly bamboo or sacred bamboo, is a species of flowering plant in the family Berberidaceae, native to eastern Asia from the Himalayas to Japan. It is the only member of the monotypic genus Nandina. It is widely grown in gardens as an ornamental plant with a number of cultivars that display bright-red fall foliage in the cool months, and attractive new foliage growth in spring. Although a popular ornamental shrub, the berries are toxic to birds, especially towards the end of the winter when other food sources become scarce. The Latin genus name Nandina is derived from the Japanese name nanten. The specific epithet domestica means 'domesticated', or 'of the household'. Description Despite the common name "sacred bamboo", it is not a bamboo but an erect evergreen shrub up to tall by wide, with numerous, usually unbranched stems growing from ground level. The glossy leaves are sometimes deciduous in colder areas, long, bi- or tri-pinnately compound, with the individual leaflets long and 1.5–3 cm broad. The young leaves in spring are brightly coloured pink to red before turning green; old leaves turn red or purple again before falling. Its petiolate leaves are 50–100 cm long, compound (two or three pinnacles) with leaflets, elliptical to ovate or lanceolate and of entire margins, 2–10 cm long by 0.5–2 cm wide, with petioles swollen at their bases. The inflorescences are axillary or terminally erect panicles with numerous hermaphrodite flowers. There are several ovate-oblong sepals of a pinkish white color, and six oblong white petals, each 4 by 2.5 mm. The flowers are borne in early summer in conical clusters held well above the foliage. The fruit is a bright red berry, 5–10 mm diameter, ripening in late autumn and often persisting through the winter. Garden history and cultivation N. domestica, grown in Chinese and Japanese gardens for centuries, was brought to Western gardens by William Kerr, who sent it to London in his first consignment from Canton, in 1804. English breeders, unsure of its hardiness, kept it in greenhouses at first. The scientific name given to it by Carl Peter Thunberg is a Latinized version of a Japanese name for the plant, nan-ten. Over 65 cultivars have been named in Japan, where the species is particularly popular and a national Nandina society exists. In Shanghai berried sprays of nandina are sold in the streets at