Japanese name: ツクバネソウ（衝羽根草） Scientific name:Paris tetraphylla var. tetraphylla
[Overview]
A perennial 15–40 cm tall, found in deciduous woodland such as beech forests in the mountains.
Slender white rhizomes creep far sideways.
The slender stem is erect.
The leaves are simple, borne 4 in a whorl at the stem tip, oblong to lanceolate, with pointed tips and three conspicuous veins.
The leaf margins are entire.
There is no leaf stalk.
The flower is borne singly at the stem tip, facing upward, on a stalk 3–10 cm long.
The flower consists only of 4 green outer tepals; there are no inner tepals.
The outer tepals are lanceolate, 1–2 cm long.
There are 8 stamens with slender yellow anthers, and the connective does not protrude beyond the anther.
The filaments swell and turn red after flowering.
The ovary is spherical, with 4 long styles.
The fruit is a spherical berry about 1 cm across that ripens black, with the tepals and filaments remaining at its base.
[Notes]
The Japanese name compares the way the leaves are arranged and the shape of the fruit to the shuttlecock used in hanetsuki (a Japanese battledore game).
