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The "Akabana" (Epilobium pyrricholophum) belongs to Onagraceae (the Evening primrose family). It is a perennial herb that is distributed throughout Japan, the Korean Peninsula, northeastern China and Sakhalin. This herb grows on bogs in hills and fields, and can reach 30-70 cm in height. The stems are covered with fine hairs. The leaves are ovate to ovate-elliptic and arranged in opposite. The magenta flowers bloom on the axils from July to September. The corolla has four petals with shallow bilobate tips and peduncle-like long ovaries. The stigmas are thick club-shaped. In Chinese, it is called "長籽柳葉菜" (chang zi liu ye cai).
In Korean, it's called "Ba-neul-kkot" (바늘꽃). This is a compound word formed from "needle" (ba-neul: 바늘) and "flower" (kott: 꽃), named for the shape of the slender, elongated capsule that forms after the flower, which resembles a "needle".
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