Pretty white flowers blooming along the mountain stream below the marshland

Recently, I heard the information that pretty white flowers were starting to bloom in the forest of the water source located in the northern area of Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, Japan.

So, I immediately went there to see the flower.

This is the flower that I wish I could have seen here. This is called Kitayama-ouren.　Its scientific name is Coptis kitayamensis.　　

Please let me say one more thing, although it had been considered to be closely related to Baika-ouren (Coptis quinquefolia), it was recognized as a new species in 2011, and named Kitayama-ouren.　However, I think it may be difficult to distinguish them by their appearance.

They have been blooming in cluster along a mountain stream. Many visitors were trying to take photos. 

What looks like white petals (four or five) is actually a calyx. 

Meanwhile, what looks like a yellowish green spoon is actually the real petal. There is flower nectar in a petal. I really think it’s difficult to judge each part of a flower by its appearance.　

This bud begins to open. A spoon-like petal is visible from inside the bud.

If you gaze at a leaf (a palmately compound leaf) closely, the compound leaves consist of five small leaves. But even in the same species, some plants have only three small leaves, depending on where they grow. 　I get confused！ 

I walked up the narrow path along the mountain stream and finally came to a wide open area surrounded by low mountains.  What I found there was the marsh.  This marshland has served as the water source of the mountain stream and its area is about 56,000 square meters. Due to the winter season, the grasses have now died.

The sign reads as follows.

Welcome to the forest of Yamakado water source . This rich nature we should keep for the future generation.

This marshland is said to have been formed since 40,000 years ago. However, we cannot enter in the marshland and take any plants and animals without permission.