牡丹叶当归 mu dan ye dang gui

Plants perennial, 60–150 cm. Root cylindric, brown, 1–2 cm thick, aromatic. Stem purplish, thinly ribbed. Basal and lower leaves petiolate, petioles 5–15 cm, sheaths 1–1.5 cm wide; blade broadly triangular-ovate, 10–15 × 13–18 cm, 2–3-ternate-pinnate, glabrous; leaflets short-petiolulate or sessile, ovate or rhombic-ovate, 2–4 × 1–3 cm, base cuneate, margin 3–5-coarse-toothed, apex acute. Peduncles 10–15 cm; bracts 3 to several, linear-lanceolate; rays 17–30, unequal; bracteoles 4–8, linear, scarious, nearly as long as pedicels; umbellules 14–20-flowered; pedicels glabrous or scabrous. Calyx teeth obsolete. Petals yellowish green or purplish, ovate. Fruit ellipsoid, 5–7 × 3–4 mm; dorsal ribs filiform, lateral ribs winged, wings narrower than the body; vittae 1 in each furrow, 2 on commissure. Fl. Jun–Aug, fr. Jul–Sep.

Shrubby thickets, gravelly grasslands, river banks; 3500–4200 m. Xizang.

The roots have reputed medicinal properties.