Japanese name: イワテヒゴタイ Scientific name:Saussurea brachycephala
[Overview]
A perennial 20–100 cm tall, growing in alpine to subalpine grasslands and in grassy areas within forests.
The stem is erect, with very narrow wings.
There are basal leaves and stem leaves; the basal leaves have usually withered by the flowering season.
The stem leaves are simple and alternate; those on the lower part of the stem are narrowly ovate, 6–10 cm long and 3.5–5 cm wide, somewhat hastate, with coarse serrations on the margin.
The petiole is 5–17 cm long and winged in the upper part.
The flower heads, 3–7 in corymb-like clusters, are about 2 cm across and consist only of pale reddish purple tubular flowers.
The involucre is bell-shaped to cylindrical, about 1.6 cm in both length and diameter, and sparsely covered with cobwebby hairs.
The involucral bracts are in 7–8 rows, and the tips of the outer bracts extend long into a tail shape.
The fruit is an achene with a pappus.
