Japanese name: チョウセンキハギ（朝鮮木萩） Scientific name:Lespedeza maximowiczii
[Overview]
A deciduous semi-shrub reaching 1–3 m tall.
The leaves are alternate and compound with 3 leaflets; the leaflets are elliptic, 3–9 cm long and 2–4 cm wide.
Both surfaces of the leaves have appressed hairs.
The leaf margins are entire.
The flowers are pea-shaped and borne in compound racemes to false panicles at the leaf axils.
The flowers are deep reddish purple.
The calyx lobes are longer than the calyx tube and taper to a needle-like tip.
The pods do not split open even when ripe.
[Cultivation]
It likes sun and is easy to grow, thriving even in poor or dry soil as long as the soil is not excessively wet.
It is cold-hardy, but most of the aboveground part dies back in winter, so cut it back to ground level and let new branches grow the following year.
Transplanting is easy as long as it is done while the plant is leafless.
