Eupatorium japonicum

Eupatorium japonicum is an erect perennial herb in the Asteraceae family native to East Asia, including Japan, Korea, eastern China, and the Russian Far East. It grows from a stout rhizome and produces unbranched or sparingly branched stems 0.5 to 1.5 metres tall, often with a purplish flush near the base. The opposite leaves are lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, deeply three-lobed or sometimes pinnately divided, with sharply serrate margins, finely pubescent or glandular beneath, and emitting an aromatic scent when crushed. From late summer to autumn, terminal corymbose inflorescences bear numerous small discoid heads of pinkish-white to pale lilac tubular florets. Achenes are small, ribbed, and bear a pappus of fine bristles. The plant inhabits moist meadows, stream banks, forest margins, and clearings, and is sometimes cultivated as a late-season nectar plant.