Ainsliaea dentata Koidzumi; A. macroclinidioides var. okinawensis (Hayata) Kitamura; A. okinawensis Hayata; A. ovata Koidzumi; A. yadsimae Koidzumi.

Herbs, perennial, 25-80 cm tall. Leaves aggregated near median part of stem; petiole 3-11 cm, wingless; leaf blade broadly ovate to deltate or ovate-lanceolate, 4.5-13 × 3-11 cm, papery, palmate-pinnate veined, abaxially sparsely villous, especially on veins, adaxially glabrous or sparsely pilose when young, base shallowly to deeply cordate or rounded, margin dentate to obscurely dentate, apex acute or acuminate to long acuminate. Capitula sessile or shortly pedunculate, arranged in spikes or racemes, 3-flowered; involucre cylindric, 3-4 mm in diam.; phyllaries ca. 6-seriate, papery, abaxially glabrous or apically pubescent, outer phyllaries ovate, 2.5-3 mm, inner narrowly oblong, ca. 1 cm. Florets bisexual, chasmogamous, corollas tubular, 0.9-1.3 cm, deeply 5-lobed, lobes linear, unequal, anther appendages rounded. Achenes terete, ca. 8 mm, pilose; pappus red-brownish, ca. 10 mm. Fl. Mar, Jul-Oct.

Ainsliaea macroclinidioides is a polymorphic species, with leaf blades varying from ovate-lanceolate with base rounded, apex long acuminate, and margin dentate (in the type specimen from Taiwan) to leaf blades ovate to deltate with base rounded to deeply cordate, apex acuminate, and margin dentate to obscurely dentate (in specimens from the Ryukyu Islands, Japan). Specimens from SE China with entire leaf margins that have been determined as A. macroclinidioides are referred in the present treatment to A. kawakamii.

Forests along stream banks; 500-2000 m. Taiwan [Japan].