Japanese name: サンショウソウ（山椒草） Scientific name:Pellionia minima
[Overview]
A perennial found in moist places such as along streams in forests in the mountains.
The stem creeps along the ground, extending about 10–30 cm and rising to about 10 cm in height; it is tinged with purplish brown and has short hairs.
Leaves are simple and alternate in two flat rows, distorted obovate, 1–3 cm long, with no white spots on the upper surface; the margin has 4–5 pairs of blunt teeth, and short hairs grow on the veins on the underside.
The plant is monoecious, but many plants bear only female flowers.
Globular cymes are produced in the leaf axils; the male inflorescence has a short stalk, and the female inflorescence is stalkless.
The male flowers have 4–5 purplish brown tepals, with a horn-like projection 0.1–0.2 cm long on the back.
The female flowers have 5 tepals of unequal length.
The fruit is an achene with sparse conical projections on the surface.
[Notes]
The Japanese name compares the leaves to those of sansho (Japanese pepper).
