Japanese name: ママコナ（飯子菜） Scientific name:Melampyrum roseum var. japonicum
[Overview]
An annual 20–50 cm tall, found in forests in the mountains.
It is a hemiparasitic plant.
The stem is erect.
Leaves are simple and opposite, long ovate, 2–8 cm long and 1–3 cm wide, pointed at the tip, and covered with short hairs on both sides.
The leaf margins are entire, but the upper leaves often have bristle-like teeth.
The petiole is 0.3–1.5 cm long.
A spike 3–10 cm long at the branch tip bears reddish purple, two-lipped flowers.
The lower lip is shallowly 3-lobed with 2 white ridges, and the margin of the upper lip is densely covered with soft white hairs.
There are white spots on both sides of the throat of the corolla.
The bracts resemble the leaves, are green and pointed, and have bristle-like teeth 0.5–2 mm long on the margins.
The axis of the inflorescence and the calyx are densely covered with white hairs.
The fruit is an ovoid capsule, with its base enclosed by the calyx.
[Notes]
The Japanese name is said to compare the white spots of the corolla or the young seeds to grains of cooked rice.
