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The "Hachijo-na" (Sonchus brachyotus) belongs to Asteraceae (the Aster family). It is a perennial herb that is native to Japan, the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula and China. This herb grows in coastal waste grounds and can reach 30-100 cm in height. The stems are erect and the long rhizomes extend transversely. The leaves are oblong-lanceolate to narrow elliptic, pinnatisect, and enfold stems at the bases. The yellow, about 3 cm across flower-heads bloom on the stem apices in August through October. In addition, the young shoots, leaves, and stems that emerge from spring through early summer can be eaten as wild greens. It is called "長裂苦苣菜" (chang lie ku ju cai) in Chinese.
In Korean, it's called "sa-de-pul" (사데풀). There is a theory that "sa-ra-bu-ro" (斜羅夫老: 사라부로) -recorded as the Korean name for lettuce- evolved into "sa-de-pul" (사데풀) via "sa-ra-bu-ru" (사라부루). In South Korea, the young shoots are also eaten as namul.
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