Japanese name: キハギ（木萩） Scientific name:Lespedeza buergeri
[Overview]
A deciduous shrub over 2 m tall, found in sunny hills to low mountains, especially preferring rocky places.
The twigs are woody and persist through winter.
The leaves are alternate and compound, made up of 3 leaflets.
The leaflets are ovate to oblong, 2–4 cm long and 1–3 cm wide, somewhat thick, with pointed tips and entire margins.
The flowers are pea-shaped, about 1 cm long, and are borne rather densely in racemes 2–7 cm long arising from the leaf axils.
The flowers are pale yellowish white, with purplish red wing petals and a purplish red stripe in the center of the standard petal.
The tips of the calyx lobes do not become needle-like.
The pods do not split open even when ripe.
[Cultivation]
It prefers sun and is easy to grow, thriving even in poor or dry ground as long as the soil is not overly wet.
The branches do not die back even in winter.
Transplanting is easy as long as it is done while the plant is leafless.
