Japanese name: レモンエゴマ Scientific name:Perilla citriodora
[Overview]
An annual 20–90 cm tall, found in partially shaded places in hills and fields.
The whole plant has a lemon-like fragrance.
The stem has 4 ridges and is densely covered with short, downward-pointing soft hairs.
The leaves are simple and opposite, broadly elliptical, 7–12 cm long and 5–8 cm wide.
The margins are toothed except at the base of the leaf.
The petiole is long.
Slender racemes emerge at the branch tips and bear many two-lipped flowers 4–5 mm long, white to pale pink.
The calyx is 3–4 mm long at flowering and 6–7 mm in fruit, with long soft hairs and short hairs.
The bracts are flattened-round, wider than long except for the pointed tip, with a broad white area at the margin.
Most of the bracts fall by the time the fruit forms.
The fruit is a schizocarp.
