Japanese name: クルマバナ（車花） Scientific name:Clinopodium chinense subsp. grandiflorum
[Overview]
A perennial 20–80 cm tall, found in grassy areas and along roadsides in the mountains.
It has slender, stolon-like underground stems.
The stem is square in cross section and has downward-pointing hairs.
Leaves are simple and opposite, ovate, 2–4 cm long and 1–2.5 cm wide, with toothed margins.
The leaf stalk is 0.5–1.5 cm.
Several tiers of whorled cymes at the stem tip bear small reddish-purple lipped flowers.
The calyx is often tinged with reddish purple and has short hairs and spreading hairs, but usually no glandular hairs.
The bracts are longer than the flower stalks and about as long as the calyx; they are linear and have long hairs.
The fruit is a schizocarp.
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or by division.
It prefers sunny, well-drained, well-aerated soil.
Once established, it needs hardly any watering, but water it if the leaves wilt in summer.
In early spring and autumn, apply slow-release fertilizer around the plant.
There are no particular pests or diseases.
[Notes]
The Japanese name comes from the appearance of the whorled flowers.
