Japan Flora: Gla­brous perennial with slender, creeping rhizomes; stems erect, 20-40 cm. long; leaves rather loosely arranged, soft, narrowly oblong to broadly oblanceolate, 3-6 cm. long, 7-20 mm. wide, obtuse to very obtuse, gradually narrowed toward base, entire, the midrib slender and slightly raised beneath, the lateral nerves very slender, the verticillate leaves similar but slightly larger, the involucral leaves green, deltoid-ovate to ovate, sometimes deltoid, 1—4 cm. long, 8-25 mm. wide, obtuse to acute; inflorescence loose, the glands of involucres reniform, with an outward pointing caudate projection at each end, dark brown or dark purple, about 3 mm. wide; capsules about 3 mm. across, smooth; seeds broadly ovoid, about 2.3 mm. long, smooth.  Apr.-July. Grassy places and thickets in lowlands and mountains.

Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyu­shu; very variable and rather common.  s. Sakhalin, s. Ku­riles, Korea, and Manchuria.