Japan Flora: Rhizomes slender, creeping, usually elongate; stems slender, 15-30 cm. long, unbranched or with
1 or 2 branches, slightly ascending above; leaves thinly membranous, ovate-oblong to oblong, 4-8 cm. long, 1.5-3 cm. wide, green, papillose on the margin, abruptly acuminate, subrounded, sessile, the pedicels solitary, 1-2 cm. long, adnate to the base of the leaf above, the free portion slender, not jointed; flowers solitary, rotate, 5-6 mm. in diameter, nodding, the tepals lanceolate, slightly reflexed above, about 3 mm. long, caudate; anthers transversely elliptic, slightly scabrous on lower half; stigma iKarly sessile; fruit red, globose. June- July. Damp coniferous woods in mountains;

Hokkaido. e. Siberia, Sakhalin, and w. N. America.

Var. japonicus (Maxim.) Fassett. More robust, the stems stouter, 20-60 cm. long, with 2 to 6 branches, rarely simple; leaves broadly lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 5-10 cm. long, 1-3 cm. wide, acuminate, rarely abruptly so, the margins essentially smooth, cuneate to rounded at base; anthers scabrous on lower half with short hairlike processes. May-July. Damp coniferous woods in high mountains;

Honshu (n. and centr. distr.); rare.

f. atrocarpus (Koidz.) Ohwi. A rare phase with black fruit. Honshu (centr. distr.).