Herbs perennial, 30–120 cm tall. Rootstock brown or purple-brown, robust, usually fusiform, rarely terete, cross section yellow-white or purple. Stems erect, angular, glabrous, or base pilose or sparsely glandular hairy. Radical leaves: stipules brown; leaflets of radical leaves fasciated oblong to fasciated lanceolate. Inflorescences erect, spicate, ellipsoid, cylindric, or ovoid, usually 1–6 × 0.5–1 cm, flowering from apex to base. Filaments 0.5–1 × as long as sepals, exserted beyond them.

Anodyne, astringent, diuretic, febrifuge, haemostatic, tonic and vulnerary (root)

The roots are used in the treatment of peptic ulcers, haematuria, menorrhagia, nosebleeds, bloody stool, dysentery, diarrhoea and haemorrhoids. It is used externally in the treatment of burns, scalds, sores, eczema, skin ulcerations and other skin diseases.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 566, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.