Perennial plant 10-35 cm tall. Roots to 20 × 1.5 cm. Stems ascending, stout, simple, glabrous. Basal leaves petiole 2-4 cm, membranous; leaf blade broadly lanceolate to ovate-elliptic, 6-20 × 0.8-4 cm, base narrowed, margin scabrous, apex acuminate, veins 3-5. Stem leaves 3-5 pairs, distinctly smaller and with shorter petioles toward apex; petiole 0.5-2.5 cm; leaf blade linear to linear-lanceolate, 2.5-8 cm × 5-10 mm, base obtuse, margin scabrous, apex acuminate, veins 1-3. Cymes axillary or terminal, forming a narrow panicle, axillary cymes sometimes on pedunclelike branches; peduncle to 9 cm. Pedicel to 4 cm. Calyx tube purple, spathelike, 1.5-2.8 cm, split on 1 side to near base, membranous; lobes 2-5, subulate, 0.5-1 mm. Corolla greenish white to pale yellow-green, occasionally suffused with pale blue, outside sometimes tinged brown, with green spots in throat, funnelform, (3-)3.5-4.5 cm; lobes ovate-elliptic to ovate, 5-6 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse; plicae triangular, 2-3 mm, oblique, margin entire or denticulate, apex obtuse. Stamens inserted just below middle of corolla tube; filaments 1.1-1.5 cm; anthers narrowly ellipsoid, 2-3 mm. Style 3-5 mm; stigma lobes oblong. Capsules ovoid-ellipsoid, 2.5-3 cm; gynophore 7-12 mm. Seeds light brown, narrowly ellipsoid to ellipsoid, 1.1-1.3 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.