Japanese name: アメリカシャガ Scientific name:Neomarica northiana
[Overview]
An evergreen perennial growing to 1 m tall.
It has a branching rhizome.
The leaves are fan-like and sword-shaped, about 60 cm long, and do not stand upright.
The flower stalk is flat and leaf-like.
The flowers are 7–8 cm across, with 6 tepals.
The 3 outer tepals are white, with yellow and purplish brown striped patterns at the base.
The inner tepals stand upright and curl outward; they are blue with purple blotches, and have yellow and purplish brown striped patterns at the base.
Each flower withers in a day.
The flowers are fragrant.
Offsets form at the base of the flowers, and when the flower neck bends and touches the ground, it takes root and forms a new plant.
The fruit is a capsule.
[Uses]
The rhizome is used medicinally.
[Cultivation]
Propagate by division.
To overwinter, keep it at 10°C or higher.
It prefers fertile soil in a sunny, well-drained site.
Water thoroughly when the soil surface dries.
