About Cardiocrinum cordatum (Thunb.) Makino
Cardiocrinum cordatum (Thunb.) Makino, called turep in the Ainu languages, is a Northeast Asian plant species belonging to the lily family. It is native to Japan, as well as Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands—Russian islands located in the Sea of Okhotsk. Thanks to its large, showy flowers, it is sometimes grown as an ornamental plant outside its native range, though it is cultivated less often than its close relative C. giganteum. The Ainu, an indigenous group native to Hokkaido, historically harvested this plant’s bulbs. They extracted starch from the bulbs to make a type of dumpling that was a staple food in Ainu cuisine. This species has been reported to have become naturalized in Maryland, an eastern U.S. state.
