Japanese name: ハキダメギク（掃溜菊） Scientific name:Galinsoga quadriradiata
[Overview]
An annual 10–60 cm tall, found in fields and by roadsides.
Soft hairs cover the whole plant.
The stem branches freely.
The leaves are simple and opposite, ovate, with three conspicuous veins.
The leaf margins have blunt teeth.
A single flower head 5 mm across is borne at the tip of each branch.
The head has about 5 white ray florets around the edge and many yellow tubular florets in the center.
The ray florets are 1–2 mm long and 3-lobed at the tip.
The involucre is hemispherical, and the involucral bracts have glandular hairs.
The fruit is an achene with a pappus of white scale-like segments.
[History]
It is said to have arrived in the Taisho period, and it has become naturalized throughout the country.
[Notes]
The Japanese name is said to come from the plant having been discovered by Makino Tomitaro on a rubbish heap (hakidame) in Setagaya.
