Japan Flora: Rhizomes short, the adventitious roots fusiform; stems subscandent, 1-2 m. long, the branches slender, acutely angled, nearly smooth; cladodes 1-2 in a fascicle, lin­ear, flattened, 3-angled, acuminate with a short awn at apex, 1-2 cm. long, 1-1.2 mm. wide, somewhat falcate, lustrous; flowers 1-3, pale yellow-green, campanulate-infundibuliform, about 3 mm. long, the pedicels 2-5 mm. long, jointed near the middle; anthers ovate-elliptic, obtuse, shorter than the fila­ments; fruit whitish. May. Near seashores.

Hokkaido (naturalized), Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu. Ryukyus, For­mosa, China, and Korea.

var. pygmaeus (Makino) Ohwi. Stems erect, 15-20 cm. long. Cultivated in our gar­dens.