Stems arching, to 2 m, armed with a few slender prickles, densely shaggy with long (3-5 mm), purple, glandular hairs, as also the petioles and infl; lfls 3, densely white- tomentose beneath, the terminal one broadly ovate, abruptly short-acuminate, rounded at base, the lateral similar but much smaller; infl a many-fld cymose panicle; sep glandular-hairy; pet white, narrowly ovate, erect, much shorter than the sep; fr red, 1 cm thick, separating as a unit from the persistent receptacle; 2n=14. Native of e. Asia, well established as an escape from cult. in our range, especially along the Atlantic coast.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
Miss Edna Banta found this species in 1935 to be well established in Crow Hollow near Hanover, Jefferson County, and says she first observed it there in 1924. In 1932 R. C. Friesner found it established on a hillside near Marengo Cave, Crawford County. In 1938 Wm. B. Barnes sent me a specimen from the T. C. Harp farm in sec. 4 of McCameron Township, Martin County. He informs me that it is well established in deep wooded ravines near and in the vicinity of Salem Church. Since the woods about there are in the Resettlement Area, they will be protected from fire and grazing and there is little doubt that it will persist there indefinitely. It has been reported from three counties in Ohio and probably has a wider distribution in Indiana than our records show. It was introduced into the United States in 1876 and has already escaped in the eastern part of the United States.
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Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = null, non-native