Chloranthus mandshuricus Ruprecht; Tricercandra japonica (Siebold) Nakai; T. quadrifolia A. Gray.
Herbs perennial, 20-49 cm high. Rhizomes many noded, procumbent, branched, with many slender, long, fibrous roots, aromatic. Stems erect, 1 or several in a fascicle, not branched, basal nodes with 1 pair of scalelike leaves. Scalelike leaves opposite, triangular or ovate, 4-5 mm, membranous. Leaves opposite, usually 4 clustered on stem apex and false-whorled; petiole 0.8-1.8 cm; leaf blade broadly elliptic or obovate, 8-14 × 5-8 cm, papery, glandular mucronate, basal 1/4 entire, shiny adaxially, glabrous, base broadly cuneate, margin sharply serrate, apex acute; lateral veins 6-8 pairs; reticulate veins conspicuous. Spike solitary, terminal, 3-5 cm with peduncle; bracts triangular or nearly semiorbicular. Flowers white. Stamens 3; connectives elongated, linear, ca. 5 mm, horizontally spreading or curved upward, connate at base, on outside of apical part of ovary; central connective without anther; lateral connectives with a 1-loculed anther each; thecae at base of connectives. Ovary ovoid; style absent; stigma truncate. Drupes green, subglobose or obovoid, 2.5-3 mm; stalk 1-1.5 mm. Fl. Apr-May, fr. May-Jul. 2n = 30.
Forests, shaded, wet places, streamsides; 100-2300 m. Gansu, Hebei, Jilin, Liaoning, ?Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi [Japan, Korea, Russia (Far East)]
Used for medicinal and aromatic purposes.
