Japan Flora: Densely hirsute perennial herb; stems simple or sparingly branched, to 1.5 m. long, grayish white, coarse, spreading-pubescent; leaves membranous, ovate- orbicular, 10-15 cm. long, 6-12 cm. wide, slightly elongate to the caudate tip, cuneate-rounded at base, regularly dentate-toothed, green and slightly hirsute above, densely white-woolly beneath with spreading-hairs on the nerves, the peti-oles slender, as long as to slightly shorter than the blade； panicles 5-10 cm. long, loosely glomerate; pistillate perianth with short ascending hairs; stigma rather short; achenes about 1 mm. long. Sept.

Cultivated and occasionally naturalized in Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu. Mlaysia, China, and Indochina.

var, candicans Wedd. Parts larger; leaves broadly cuneate at base, the petioles usually longer than the blade; frequently cultivated in our area for fiber. s. China, Philippines, and Malaysia.