Japanese name: ナンブアザミ（南部薊） Scientific name:Cirsium comosum var. lanuginosum
[Overview]
A perennial 60–200 cm tall, found at forest edges and in grasslands in the mountains.
The stem is erect or ascending 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 ovate, 15–50 cm long and 6–25 cm wide.
The leaves are either pinnately divided into 3–7 pairs of lobes, or undivided with toothed margins.
They have a short petiole.
The leaves vary greatly, starting with the depth of the incisions; in the type called Uragehime-azami the leaf underside has cobwebby hairs, and in the type called Daki-nanbu-azami there is no petiole and the base of the stem leaf clasps the stem.
Several flower heads are borne in corymbs at the stem tip.
The flower heads are 2–3 cm across and pale reddish purple, and bloom sideways to downward at the tips of stalks 3–10 cm long.
The involucre is bell-shaped to cylindrical, 1–1.8 cm wide, with the bracts recurved or spreading, in 8–9 rows.
The inner and middle bracts of the involucre have glands and are slightly sticky.
The fruit is an achene with a white pappus.
[Notes]
The most commonly seen thistle in the Tohoku region; the Japanese name means the thistle of the Nanbu region.
