Japanese name: アリノトウグサ（蟻塔草） Scientific name:Gonocarpus micranthus
[Overview]
A perennial 10–40 cm tall, found in sunny grassland in hills and fields.
The stems and leaves are hairless.
The lower part of the stem creeps along the ground and branches, producing roots and erect stems from the nodes.
The stem is often tinged with red and is square in cross section.
Leaves are simple and opposite, though the leaves on the upper part of the stem are sometimes alternate.
The leaves are ovate, 0.6–1.2 cm long and 0.4–1 cm wide, with blunt serrations on the margin.
Compound racemes arise at the stem tips, and the branches spread outward.
The flowers hang downward and are small four-petaled flowers, yellowish brown to crimson.
The plant is protandrous, with the stamens maturing first.
The stigma is feathery.
The fruit is a drupe.
[Notes]
The Japanese name is said to come from likening the plant's form to an ant mound and the flowers to ants.
