Japanese name: キツネアザミ（狐薊） Scientific name:Hemisteptia lyrata
[Overview]
A biennial 20–150 cm tall, seen on vacant lots, fallow rice fields, rice paddy banks and similar places.
The leaves and involucral bracts have no spines.
The stem is erect and branches in the upper part.
There are basal leaves and stem leaves; the basal leaves have withered by the flowering season.
The stem leaves are alternate, narrowly elliptic to narrowly obovate, 10–20 cm long and 1.5–5 cm wide, and lyrate-pinnately lobed.
There are 4–8 pairs of lateral lobes.
The underside of the leaf is densely covered with white cottony hairs.
A flower head 2.5 cm across, reddish purple, is borne facing upward at the stem tip.
The flower head consists only of tubular florets.
The involucre is spherical, about 1 cm across, with involucral bracts in 8 rows; the outer and middle bracts have a crest-like projection on the upper part of the back.
The tips of the involucral bracts are often tinged with reddish purple.
The fruit is an achene with a feathery pappus.
[Uses]
The whole plant is used medicinally.
[Notes]
The Japanese name is said to express, as a metaphor for being bewitched by a fox, that although the plant looks at first glance like an Azami (thistle), it belongs to a different group.
