Perennial plant 30-60 cm tall. Roots to 30 × 2 cm. Stems ascending to erect, stout, simple, glabrous. Basal leaves petiole 3-5 cm, membranous; leaf blade elliptic-lanceolate to elliptic-ovate, 6-28 × 2.5-6 cm, base narrowed, margin scabrous, apex acuminate, veins 5-7. Stem leaves 3-5 pairs; petiole to 4 cm, membranous; leaf blade elliptic-lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 4.5-15 × 1.2-3.5 cm, base obtuse, margin scabrous, apex acuminate, veins 3-5. Inflorescences crowded into terminal clusters, many flowered, sometimes also in few-flowered axillary whorls; axillary whorls sessile, rarely on pedunclelike branches. Flowers sessile. Calyx tube spathelike, membranous, split on 1 side; lobes 4 or 5, dentiform, 0.5-1 mm. Corolla blue-purple, with pale yellow base, tubular or urceolate; lobes ovate, 3-4.5 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse to subrounded; plicae triangular, 1-1.5 mm, margin entire, apex acute. Stamens inserted just below middle of corolla tube; filaments 5-7 mm; anthers narrowly ellipsoid, 2-2.5 mm. Style 1.5-2 mm; stigma lobes oblong. Capsules ovoid-ellipsoid, 1.5-1.7 cm; gynophore short. Seeds light brown, ellipsoid, 1.2-1.5 mm.

Analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antirheumatic, diuretic, febrifuge, hypoglycaemic and hypotensive (roots)

Plants For A Future
Flora of China

The root is used internally in the treatment of digestive problems, rheumatic or rheumatoid arthritis, allergic inflammations, low-grade fever in chronic diseases, jaundice and hepatitis.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 332, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.