Central VA, and I believe this particular species is fairly common in my neighborhood. I’ve tried searching the internet, but the top results are blog articles with scant imagery such as this article on plantvirginianatives.org.
Secondary question: Note the yellow splotches on the leaves—other plants of the same species in my neighborhood also have the yellow splotches—are they merely seasonal or could they indicate an issue w/ the health of the plant?
EDIT: Looks like aucuba japonica (Wikipedia), and apparently the yellow splotches are a feature, not a bug, known as variegation.
The bot was correct for once. Japanese aucuba. The spots are variegation which is typical for the variety and nothing to worry about.
Automatic identification via PlantNet summary
Most likely match: Aucuba japonica Thunb.
Common name Scientific name Likeliness Japanese Aucuba Aucuba japonica 50.41 % Dahlia Dahlia pinnata 0.22 % Titan arum Amorphophallus titanum 0.21 % Shamel ash Fraxinus uhdei 0.19 % Avocado Persea americana 0.16 % Beep, boop
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically.
and apparently the yellow splotches are a feature, not a bug,
Ha!
It could be a Gold Dust Croton or some similar variety. They’re commonly sold at big box stores across the US.
![What's this shrub, and should I be concerned about the yellow splotches? [SOLVED - aucuba japonica]](https://leminal.space/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Flemmy.ml%2Fpictrs%2Fimage%2F31d995e8-2cf5-4998-91ec-5f8bac256171.jpeg){kind=link}