Japanese name: ツガザクラ（栂桜） Scientific name:Phyllodoce nipponica subsp. nipponica
[Overview]
An evergreen dwarf shrub 10–20 cm tall, found on rocky ground in alpine areas.
The stems creep along the ground, with the upper part rising upright.
Leaves are alternate and dense, linear, 0.4–0.7 cm long, with a few very fine serrations on the margin.
Umbels at the branch tips bear 2–6 pale pink flowers.
The corolla is bell-shaped, about 0.5 cm long, with a shallowly 5-lobed tip.
There are 10 stamens.
The calyx is reddish purple and 5-lobed, with ovate to broad lanceolate lobes that are quite short, less than half the length of the corolla; the margin has short hairs and the outside is hairless.
The flower stalk is slender, 1–2.5 cm long, with fine hairs and glandular hairs.
The fruit is a flattened spherical capsule.
[Notes]
The Japanese name compares the leaves to those of the conifer tsuga and the flower color to sakura (cherry blossoms).
