Stats

Lifespan: Perennial
Size: Medium
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate forest
Range: East Asia
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Rare

About

This perennial herb thrives in the damp soil along shaded streams and rivers. Its feathery flower spikes produce thousands of microscopic seeds that travel by wind.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Saxifragales
Family: Saxifragaceae
Genus: Astilbe
Species: Astilbe chinensis