Barnardia japonica var. japonica(Japanese jacinth, "Tsurubo")
Japanese name: ツルボ（蔓穂） Scientific name:Barnardia japonica var. japonica
[Overview]
A perennial that often grows in colonies in sunny places such as embankments, grassland and woodland edges.
It has an ovoid bulb 2–3 cm long underground.
The bulb has a thin black skin.
The leaves are basal, linear, 10–25 cm long and 4–6 mm wide, soft and thick.
A raceme is borne at the tip of a flower stalk 20–40 cm tall, with densely packed flowers.
The flowers are pale reddish purple, 6-petaled, and open flat.
The fruit is an obovate capsule 4–5 mm long.
The seeds are broadly lanceolate, about 4 mm long.
[Notes]
The alternative name Sandaigasa (参内傘) likens the shape of the inflorescence to a folded long-handled umbrella held over a noble by his attendants when he went to the imperial palace.
