Pinellia tripartita ("Ohange")

Japanese name: オオハンゲ （大半夏）
Scientific name: Pinellia tripartita

[Overview]
A perennial 20–50 cm tall, found in evergreen forests in the mountains.
It has a corm underground.
One to four leaves grow from the base; each is deeply divided into 3 lobes, and the lobes are ovate, 8–20 cm long.
The leaf margins are entire.
No bulbils (mukago) form on the leaf stalk.
A spadix is borne at the tip of the flower stalk.
The inflorescence rises slightly above the leaves or is at about the same height.
The appendage at the tip of the inflorescence is 15–25 cm long and stands upright like a thread.
The spadix is wrapped in a spathe that is green to tinged with purple.
There are male and female flowers, without petals; the male flowers form a group on the upper part of the spadix, and the female flowers form a group on one side of the lower part, where it is fused with the bract.
The fruit is a green berry.

[Uses]
The dried corm is called hange and is used medicinally.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed; division of the corms is also possible.
For seed, wash fully ripe fruit to remove the pulp and sow immediately.
It prefers partial shade and well-drained, moist, fertile soil.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries; for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient.
Little fertilizer is needed, and none is required in particular if base fertilizer has been applied, but for potted plants a small amount of organic fertilizer may be placed on the soil in spring.
Pests include hawk moth larvae.

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