Japanese name: カナビキソウ Scientific name:Thesium chinense
[Overview]
A perennial 10–25 cm tall, found in sunny grassland.
It has chlorophyll and also photosynthesizes, but it is a semi-parasitic plant that parasitizes the roots of mainly grasses such as Shiba.
The whole plant is tinged whitish green.
The stem is erect and ridged.
Leaves are simple and alternate, linear, 2–4 cm long, with pointed tips.
Short flower stalks no more than 0.4 cm long emerge from the leaf axils, each bearing a single small white flower.
The perianth is tubular, with the tip divided into 4–5 triangular lobes.
At the base of the flower are 1 leaf-like bract and 2 small linear bracteoles.
The fruit is elliptic and urn-shaped, with the closed perianth segments remaining at the tip; when dry, a raised net-like pattern appears on the surface.
