Plants perennial. Stems 0.75-1.5 m, glabrous or slightly pubescent. Leaf blades ovate-elliptic, 2.5-13.5 × 0.2-6.8 cm, base tapering, apex acute to acuminate, pubescent on veins abaxially, short-pubescent adaxially, varying to glabrous or glabrescent. Inflorescences 2-4 cm in flower, elongating to 21 cm in fruit; bracteoles spinose; basal wings attached at base and sometimes slightly on sides. Flowers: tepals 5, 4-5 mm; pseudostaminodes with margins entire, denticulate, or slightly 2-lobed at apex. Utricles elliptic, 2.5 mm. Flowering summer. Wooded riverbanks; 100-200 m; introduced; Ky., Ohio, W.Va.; Asia. The plants of Achyranthes japonica in our area evidently belong to var. hachijoensis Honda, which has glabrous or glabrescent leaves.