Phytolacca esculenta Van Houtte; P. pekinensis Hance.
Herbs perennial, glabrous, 0.5-1.5 m tall. Roots obconic, thick, fleshy. Stems erect, green or reddish purple, terete, longitudinally grooved, fleshy, branched. Petiole 1.5-3 cm; leaf blade elliptic or lanceolate-elliptic, 10-30 × 4.5-15 cm, papery, base cuneate, apex acuminate or sharply pointed. Racemes erect, terete, usually shorter than leaves, densely flowered; peduncle 1-4 cm. Pedicel 6-10(-13) mm. Flowers bisexual, ca. 8 mm in diam. Tepals 5, white or yellowish green, elliptic, ovate, or oblong, 3-4 × ca. 2 mm, equal, after anthesis reflexed. Stamens 8-10, ca. as long as tepals; filaments persistent, white, subulate, base broad; anthers pink, elliptic. Carpels usually 8, distinct. Styles erect, short, apex curved. Infructescence erect. Berry purplish black when mature, oblate, ca. 7 mm in diam. Seeds reniform, ca. 3 mm, 3-angulate, smooth. Fl. May-Aug, fr. Jun-Oct. 2n = 18, 36*, 72.
Valleys, hillsides, forest understories, forest margins, roadsides, cultivated beside houses, moist fertile lands, or a weed; 500-3400 m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Sikkim, Vietnam].
This species is used medicinally.
