Japanese name: トネアザミ（利根薊） Scientific name:Cirsium comosum var. incomptum
[Overview]
A perennial 60–200 cm tall, found at forest edges and in grasslands in the mountains.
The stem is erect and branches freely in the upper part.
There are basal leaves and stem leaves; the basal leaves have withered by flowering time.
The stem leaves are alternate; the lower leaves are lanceolate to oblong, 15–50 cm long, usually deeply pinnately divided into 3–7 pairs of lobes, and have sharp spines.
The leaf base does not clasp the stem.
Several flower heads are borne in corymbs at the stem tip.
The flower heads are pale reddish purple; the involucre is bell-shaped to cylindrical, with the bracts recurved or spreading, in 8–9 rows.
The inner and middle bracts of the involucre have glands and are sticky.
The fruit is an achene with a white pappus.
