They are perennial plant that grows at the pool of mountain district and forests. (Perennial plant takes several years to grow). They were first discovered at Mt. Takao and named in 1909, the group of Saussurea. The flower is capitulum (Touka: a flower consisting of small dense tubular flowers) about 2 cm in diameter with some purplish red color flowers in the upper part of stalk. The involucre (Soho: transformed leaves to wrap the flower base) at the root of flowers is bell contour shape about 1.8 cm long, and the tip of involucral bract is sharp. The leaves growing under radical leaf (Konseiyou: leaves growing near the root of stalk) and under the stalk are wide-egg shaped about 7 to 11 cm long with long stalk and sawtooth at the edge (Kyoshi: tooth-like rough part like a saw at the root of a leaf). The leaves are gouged deep halfway and the characteristic is the shape looks like a violin. At Mt Jinbayama we see rarely Saussurea x satowi which is crossbreed between Saussurea sinuatoides and Saussurea tanakae, and also the leaves are a violin shaped. Radical leaf withers at the season when the flowers bloom. When flowers bloom, radical leaf withers. They bear seeds with white trichome. Using the trichome, the seeds are carried by wind.

●Season　　Late September to about Late October
●Height　　about 40 to 80 cm
●Place　　Trail 4 ,Oku-Takao