Japanese name: タカアザミ（高薊） Scientific name:Cirsium pendulum var. pendulum
[Overview]
A biennial, or a perennial thought to flower only once, 1–2 m tall, sometimes over 3 m, found on riverbank embankments and waste ground from lowlands to low 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; those at mid-stem are 10–30 cm long and 4–15 cm wide, broadly lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, herbaceous, and pinnately divided into 4–7 pairs of lobes.
Many flower heads are borne at the stem tips, on long stalks, facing downward, and are reddish purple.
The involucre is bell-shaped to broadly bell-shaped, 1.4–1.7 cm wide, with involucral bracts in 11–12 rows that are gently recurved or spreading.
The fruit is an achene with white pappus hairs.
