Plant Encyclopedia
Coptis ramosa ("Ogokayoren")
Japanese name: オオゴカヨウオウレン (大五加葉黄蓮)
Scientific name: Coptis ramosa
[Overview]
An evergreen perennial 5–13 cm tall, found in sugi (Japanese cedar) forests on Yakushima, preferring moss-covered fallen trees and rocks along valleys.
It reaches 30 cm in height at the fruiting stage.
The rhizome is thick, short and somewhat erect, and does not produce stolons.
The leaves are basal and palmately compound with 5 or 3 leaflets; they are thick and leathery, with a glossy surface and conspicuous veins.
The leaflets are obovate to rhombic or ovate, with a wedge-shaped base narrowing, 3-lobed at the top, with sharp serrations on the margin; the leaflet stalks are indistinct.
The petiole is 3–12 cm long.
The flowers are borne 2–4 in a raceme or solitary at the tip of a purplish brown flower stalk, white, 1.2–1.6 cm across, with 5 conspicuous petal-like sepals radiating outward.
The petals are small and yellow, spatulate, with a hemispherical, deep limb.
There are many stamens.
The bracts are narrowly ovate and gradually pointed at the tip.
The fruits are stalked follicles 0.6–1.2 cm long, arranged in a ring.
Details
Translated from our Japanese encyclopedia. If anything differs, the Japanese page is correct.
