Japanese name: ハナウド（花独活） Scientific name:Heracleum sphondylium var. nipponicum
[Overview]
A biennial about 1 m tall, found in slightly moist places in hills and fields.
It has thick roots.
The stem is erect, thick and hollow, and branches in the upper part.
Both the stem and both surfaces of the leaves are hairy.
The leaves are alternate, ternately compound or pinnately compound; the leaflets are ovate to broadly ovate, with coarsely toothed margins.
The base of the leaf stalk is swollen and forms a sheath.
Compound umbels about 18 cm across at the stem tips bear many small white 5-petaled flowers.
In the flowers along the edge of the inflorescence, the outer petal is enlarged.
The fruit is a broadly elliptic mericarp.
