Neoshirakia

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}}

{{Speciesbox

|image = Neoshirakia_japonica.jpg

|display_parents = 4

| status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |author=Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI). |author2=IUCN SSC Global Tree Specialist Group. |year=2019 |title=Neoshirakia japonica |volume=2019 |page=e.T136775027A136775029 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-1.RLTS.T136775027A136775029.en |access-date=2 August 2023}}

|genus = Neoshirakia

|parent_authority = Esser

|species = japonica

|authority = (Siebold & Zucc.) Esser

|synonyms_ref = [http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=134127 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]

|synonyms = *Shirakia Hurus., illegitimate name

• Stillingia japonica Siebold & Zucc.
• Triadica japonica (Siebold & Zucc.) Baill.
• Excoecaria japonica (Siebold & Zucc.) Müll.Arg.
• Sapium japonicum (Siebold & Zucc.) Pax & K.Hoffm.
• Shirakia japonica (Siebold & Zucc.) Hurus.
• Croton sirakii Siebold & Zucc.
• Neoshirakia atrobadiomaculata (F.P.Metcalf) Esser & P.T.Li
• Sapium atrobadiomaculatum F.P.Metcalf

}}

Neoshirakia, known as milktree,{{Cite book|url=http://www.forest.go.kr/kna/special/download/English_Names_for_Korean_Native_Plants.pdf|title=English Names for Korean Native Plants|publisher=Korea National Arboretum|year=2015|isbn=978-89-97450-98-5|location=Pocheon|pages=548|access-date=4 January 2017|via=Korea Forest Service|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525105020/http://www.forest.go.kr/kna/special/download/English_Names_for_Korean_Native_Plants.pdf|archivedate=25 May 2017}} is a genus of plants in the Euphorbiaceae, native to east Asia. It is part of a group first described in 1954 with the name Shirakia, but this proved to be an illegitimate name, unacceptable under the Code of Nomenclature. The genus was later divided, with its species distributed amongst three genera: Neoshirakia, Shirakiopsis , and Triadica. Neoshirakia contains only one known species, Neoshirakia japonica, known as tallow tree, native to China, Korea, and Japan (including Nansei-shotō). The name Shirakia thus became a synonym of Neoshirakia because S. japonica was the type species for that genus, the species now renamed N. japonica. [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=317172 Flora of China Vol. 11 Page 286 白木乌桕属 bai mu wu jiu shu Neoshirakia Esser, Blumea. 43: 129. 1998. ]Esser, Hans-Joachim. 1998. Blumea 43: 129Hurusawa, Isao. 1954. Journal of the Faculty of Science: University of Tokyo, Section 3, Botany 6: 317Esser, Hans-Joachim. 1999. Blumea 44: 184