Japanese name: ヤブジラミ Scientific name:Torilis japonica
[Overview]
A biennial 30–70 cm tall, commonly seen in vacant lots, along roadsides and in grasslands.
The stem is erect and much branched.
The leaves are alternate and 1–3 times pinnately compound, 5–10 cm long.
The leaflets are thick and finely cut, with coarse short hairs on both sides.
Compound umbels bear small white 5-petaled flowers.
There are 4–10 pedicels, and the involucral bracts are slender and equal in number to the pedicels.
The fruit is ovate-oblong, 2.5–3.5 mm long, densely covered with hooked bristles, which let it be carried off on clothing and animals.
At fruiting time the pedicels are equal to or shorter than the fruit.
It resembles Oyabu-jirami, but can be distinguished by its greater number of pedicels, later flowering season and shorter fruit stalks.
[Notes]
The Japanese name comes from its growing in thickets and its fruits resembling lice.
