Unique Ecosystem - Plants
This perennial plant (an herbaceous plant that survives two or more years) grows on rocks along the coast of western Japan, where the Tsushima Current flows. Its leaves are arranged in rosettes and the entire plant is covered in hairs, giving it a whitish-green color. The flowering stems are branched and reach a height of about 25 cm tall.
The flower head (small flowers densely clustered together to look like a single flower) is 3.5–4 cm in diameter. The ray-shaped flowers (cylindrical at the bottom, extending into a tongue-like shape at the top) are a bluish-purple color, and rarely but sometimes white.
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Scientific Name
Aster spathulifolius
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Classification
Family Asteraceae
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Distribution
Sea of Japan coast from Shimane Prefecture to northern Kyushu, Oki Islands, Tsushima Island and other coastal islands, Sea of Japan coast of the Korean Peninsula, Southern Ussuri River
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Flowering Season
October–November
