A herbaceous plant. Stem Slenderly cylindrical, about 20cm long, externally yellowish-green or pale yellow, lustrous. Cauline leaves opposite, double ternately compound; leaflets ovate, 3-8cm long, 2-6cm wide; apex slightly acute, terminal leaflets cordate at the base, bilateral leaflets relatively small, oblique-cordate, the outer side relatively large, auriculate, margin with yellow and thorny serrulations; the upper surface yellowish-green, the lower surface greyish-green, main veins 7-9, occurring sparsely slender hairs at the base, thin veins prominent on both surfaces, reticulated veins distinct; petiolules 1-5cm long. Lamina subleathery. Odourless; taste, slightly bitter.

Aphrodisiac, antihypertensive

Herbasin Chinese herb database - Herba Epimedii (Yin Yang Huo)

Useful in treating impotence, seminal emission, weakness of the limbs, rheumatic or rheumatoid arthralgia with numbness and muscle contracture, climacteric hypertension and angina.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 282, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.