Hippobroma longiflora(star of Bethlehem, "Hoshiazami")
Japanese name: ホシアザミ（星薊） Scientific name:Hippobroma longiflora
[Overview]
A perennial 30–60 cm tall.
It is a strongly toxic poisonous plant, and a white milky sap exudes when the plant is damaged.
Care is needed because this sap can cause rashes and inflammation.
The leaves are simple and alternate, lanceolate to oblanceolate, 15–20 cm long and 3–4 cm wide.
The leaf margins have coarse teeth with needle-like tips.
Stiff hairs grow on the veins on both sides of the leaves.
The flowers are white and borne singly in the leaf axils.
The corolla is about 5 cm across and 5-lobed, with a long corolla tube about 8 cm long.
The fruit is obovate, 2 cm long and 1.5 cm wide, and hangs downward.
[History]
It has become widely naturalized from the tropics to the subtropics.
[Uses]
In Central and South America it is used medicinally.
