Plant Encyclopedia
Saxifraga cortusifolia var. cortusifolia ("Jinjiso")
Japanese name: ジンジソウ (人字草)
Scientific name: Saxifraga cortusifolia var. cortusifolia
[Overview]
A perennial 10–35 cm tall, growing on wet rocky ground such as along mountain streams.
It has short rhizomes.
The leaves are simple and arise from the base; they are reniform to round, 2–11 cm long and 3–16 cm wide, and rather deeply palmately divided into 7–11 lobes.
The leaves are sparsely hairy.
The leaf stalk is 2–15 cm long.
It sends up a sparsely hairy flower stalk 10–35 cm tall, and a cyme bears many flowers.
The flowers are white with 5 petals; the 3 upper petals are small and spade-shaped, with yellow, sometimes red, spots.
The 2 lower petals are large and hang down in a narrow splayed shape, forming the character 人.
There are 10 stamens, and the anthers are orange.
The fruit is a capsule, in which the 2 styles remain, developing long and beak-like.
[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or by division.
Grow it in partial shade in a well-drained, well-ventilated, moist place.
It is best planted in light soil such as sand, pumice or Kanuma soil, or mounted on a stone.
High air humidity is also preferable.
When watering, keep the soil constantly moist so that it does not dry out.
From spring to autumn, apply diluted liquid fertilizer.
There are no particular pests or diseases.
[Notes]
The name compares the shape of the flower to the character 人.
Details
Translated from our Japanese encyclopedia. If anything differs, the Japanese page is correct.
