Eriocaulon decemflorum var. nipponicum (Maximowicz) Nakai; E. nipponicum Maximowicz.

Leaves linear, (4--)6--10(--13) cm, (1--)1.3--1.5 mm wide at middle, veins 3--7(--11). Receptacle glabrous but sparsely or densely villous when well developed; heads straw-colored, subglobose to turbinate, 4--5 × 7--10 mm, bracteate; involucral bracts ca. 14, straw-colored, oblong and apex acute or oblanceolate and apex acuminate, 3.5--6 × 0.8--2 mm, membranous, outer ones glabrous, inner ones abaxially shortly white hairy; floral bracts narrowly obovate to oblanceolate, abaxially densely hairy toward apex. Male flowers: sepals shortly hairy abaxially and at (1 or)2(or 3)-cleft apex, clefts boatlike, 1.6--2.2 mm; petals (1 or)2, narrowly ovate to elliptic, white hairy toward apex or occasionally glabrous, gland black to brown; stamens (2--)4(or 5), anthers black. Female flowers: sepals 1.8--2.3 × (1--)2 mm, abaxially hairy toward apex; petals 2, oblanceolate-linear, ± fleshy, sparsely villous and apically shortly hairy, gland black; ovary (1 or)2-loculed; style (1 or)2-cleft. Seeds subglobose, 0.8--1 mm; testa reticulate, prickles nail-shaped. Fl. and fr. Aug--Oct.

Rice fields, damp soil, mountain slopes; 1600--1700 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Heilongjiang, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Russia (Far East)].