Japanese name: ヒメウワバミソウ（姫蟒蛇草） Scientific name:Elatostema japonicum
[Overview]
A perennial 20–30 cm tall, growing in damp places such as along mountain streams.
The stem is sometimes tinged red to purple and is succulent; it either rises obliquely or hangs down a slope.
The stem nodes swell in late autumn and become bulbils (mukago).
The leaves are simple and alternate, 3–6 cm long, and asymmetrical, distorted oblong in shape.
The leaf tip is long and tapered like a tail, and the margin has coarse teeth.
There are 2–3 teeth on the inner margin and 3–5 on the outer margin.
There are male and female flowers, both borne in head-like inflorescences in the leaf axils; only the male inflorescences have a stalk 1–3 cm long.
Each male inflorescence bears 10–20 flowers.
The flowers are greenish white and very small; male flowers have 4 tepals and 4 stamens, and female flowers have 3 tepals and a pistil.
The fruit is a dark brown achene with many small raised dots on the surface.
