Japanese name: サワギク（沢菊） Scientific name:Nemosenecio nikoensis
[Overview]
A perennial 0.3–1.2 m tall, found in forests and at forest edges in the mountains.
Runners extend underground from the rhizome.
The stem is soft, erect, branching in the upper part, and covered with white hairs.
There are basal leaves and stem leaves; the basal leaves are densely covered with white hairs.
The basal leaves and the leaves on the lower part of the stem have withered by the flowering season.
The stem leaves are alternate, elliptical, 5–14 cm long and 2.5–8.5 cm wide, deeply pinnately divided, with 4–6 pairs of pointed lobes.
The leaves are thin and soft, with hairs on both surfaces.
Many yellow flower heads are borne in an umbel-like arrangement at the stem tip.
The flower heads are about 1.2 cm across and consist of ray florets and tubular florets.
The involucre is cylindrical, about 0.5 cm long, and the involucral bracts are arranged in a single row.
The flower stalks are slender and have no bracts.
The fruit is an achene with a white pappus.
[Notes]
The alternate name comes from the way the clustered pappus resembles rags.
