Rebun Usuyukiso Colony was added to Your Favorites!
Rishiri Rebun Sarobetsu NP, Hokkaido
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Those snowy “petals” are actually woolly bracts—modified leaves; the yellow center is a cluster of tiny flowers. They open from the middle outward, while the white fuzz gradually fades brown.
Despite “Rebun” in its local name, this is not an island-endemic species: botanists list it as Ezo-usuyukiso (Leontopodium discolor), found elsewhere in Hokkaido and in Sakhalin and Ussuri too.
Rebun Town’s official flower has an everyday soundtrack: the local noon chime plays “Edelweiss,” named for this flower’s European botanical relative.
From late June into August, this colony’s slope can be covered in white stars; an Environment Ministry ranger compared the mass of flowers to jewels scattered across the hillside.
Only about 15 cm tall, its woolly white leaves look dusted with light snow—a visual pun preserved in its Japanese name, usuyukiso, which evokes “thin snow.”
The species is listed as Endangered (EN) in Japan. In 2026, officials patrolled the Rebun Forest Road, sharing anti-poaching messages with hikers to help protect the island’s rare plants.
