Japanese name: ヤグルマアザミ（矢車薊） Scientific name:Centaurea jacea
[Overview]
A perennial 15–120 cm tall, found on riverbanks and similar places.
It has sturdy, horizontally creeping underground stems.
The stem is erect, branches in the upper part, is hairless or has cottony hairs, and is slightly thickened at the base of the flower.
Leaves are simple and alternate, narrowly lanceolate to elliptic, 4–10 cm long, and vary in being entire, toothed, or shallowly pinnately lobed.
The leaves are rough, and both surfaces are hairless or have cottony hairs.
Flower heads are borne in racemes or singly at the stem tips and are white to reddish purple.
The flower heads consist entirely of tubular florets, but the outer ones are large, 25 mm long.
The fruit is an achene 3 mm long, with no pappus or a very short one.
[History]
Plants introduced for ornamental use in the late Meiji period have escaped from cultivation.
[Cultivation]
Propagate by division or from seed.
It prefers sunny, well-drained sandy soil.
It is easy to grow and almost free of pests and diseases.
