An exceedingly handsome evergreen species in foliage, with lustrous dark spears of glossy foliage to 6” long, and airy sprays of small white flowers comprised chiefly of white inner sepals and smaller, brownish, strongly curved petals. Leaves terrately compound, leaflets long-ovoid to ovoid-lanceolate, 4-12cm long, 2.5-5cm wide; acuminate at the apex; bilateral leaflets distinctly oblique at the base, the outer side arrow-shaped. The lower surface sparsely covered with thick, short and pronated hairs or nearly glabrous. Lamina leathery. This handsome species has been known longer outside of China compared to many of the more obscure species, but is still exceedingly rare in cultivation.

Antirheumatic, aphrodisiac, carminative, expectorant, ophthalmic and vasodilator (whole plant)

Plants For A Future
Herbasin Chinese herb database - Herba Epimedii (Yin Yang Huo)

The whole plant is used as a kidney tonic, it also treats sterility and barrenness. It is taken internally in the treatment of asthma, bronchitis, cold or numb extremities, arthritis, lumbago, impotence, involuntary and premature ejaculation, high blood pressure and absentmindedness.

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