Plants 30–80 cm. Root fusiform; rootstock short. Stem erect, purplish striate, branching. Lower petioles 10–19 cm; blade broad-ovate, 10–20 × 8–16 cm, ternate-2–3-pinnate, primary pinnae 4–6 pairs; ultimate segments ovate, 2–3 × 1–2 cm, hispid on veins, margins 3–5-lobed. Upper leaves reduced. Umbels terminal and lateral, 3–7 cm across; bracts 2, linear, scabrid, margins narrow membranous, caducous; rays 8–16, subequal, 2–3 cm; bracteoles 8–10, linear, longer than umbellules in flower, and subequal to pedicels in fruit. Calyx teeth obsolete. Petals white, oblong-ovate. Styles ca. 0.5 × fruit, reflexed. Fruit oblong, 3–4 × 2–2.5 mm; dorsal and intermediate ribs filiform, lateral ribs narrowly winged; vittae 1(–2) in each furrow, 2–4 on commissure. Seed face plane.

Analgesic, antifungal, antirheumatic, antispasmodic and diaphoretic (roots)

Flora of China
Plants For A Future

The roots are used in the treatment of boils, colds, diarrhoea, headache, particularly parietofrontal pain and migraine headache, for rheumatic arthralgia and other kinds of pain in the limbs and joints due to wind cold, toothache, abdominal pain and skin diseases.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 378, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.