Japan Flora: Plants from relatively short rhizomes; stems 30-60 cm. long, ascending and sparingly branched above; leaves oblong, sometimes broadly lanceolate to elliptic, 5-15 cm. long, 1.5-4 cm. wide, abrupdy acuminate, subsessile, mam- millate on the nerves beneath and the margin, green on both sides, 3- to 5-nerved; flowers 1-3 at the end of the branches, pendulous, about 3 cm. long, white, greenish near the tip, the pedicels 1.5-3 cm. long, the tepals abruptly acute and sometimes cuspidate, gradually narrowed toward the saccate base, the inside and lower margin short soh pubescent; filaments glabrous, about 2 cm. long, the anthers linear, 5-6 mm. long; style glabrous, about 15 mm. long, 3-cleft; ovary ellipsoidal; blue-black berry, about 1 cm. in diameter, globose. Apr.-May Woods in hilly country and foothills;

Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; common. Sakhalin and Ryukyus

Korea Flora: Perennial herb growing in mountains and forests, with stems 30-60 cm tall and rhizomes creeping horizontally under the ground, with stems branching in the upper portions. Leaves alternate, membranous, arranged along the stem, 5-15 cm long, 1.5-4 cm wide, with smooth margins, with 3-5 veins running in parallel. Stems with 4-6 nodes, bearing 1-3 flowers at the top of the stem, with the pedicels about 2 cm long. Small flowers greenish, with floral bracts and tepals 6, in 2 whorls, with the fruit a berry with 3 locules. Tepals membranous, in a single whorl, with the stamens and style visible. Fruit a berry, about 1 cm in diameter, with bluish-black seeds. Used as an ornamental.