41. Angelica sinensis (Oliver) Diels, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 29: 500. 1901.
当归 dang gui
Plants perennial, 0.4–1 m. Root cylindric, branched, rootlets many, succulent, strongly aromatic. Stem purplish green, ribbed, branched above. Basal and lower petioles 5–20 cm, sheaths purplish green, ovate, membranous-margined; blade ovate, 10–30 × 12–25 cm, 2–3-ternate-pinnate, pinnae 3–4 pairs, proximal and middle pinnae long-petiolulate; leaflets ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 2–3.5 × 0.8–2.5 cm, 2–3-lobed, margin irregularly coarse-cuspidate-serrate, sparse papillate-hairy along nerves and margin. Peduncles 8–20 cm, pubescent or subglabrous; bracts absent or 2, linear; rays 10–30, unequal, scabrous; bracteoles 2–4, linear, 3–5 mm; umbellules 13–36-flowered; pedicels slender, 1–3 cm in fruit. Calyx teeth obsolete, rarely minute, ovate. Petals white, rarely purplish red. Fruit ellipsoid or suborbicular, 4–6 × 3–4 mm; dorsal ribs filiform, prominent, lateral ribs broadly thin-winged, wings as wide as or wider than the body; vittae 1 in each furrow, 2 or absent on commissure. Fl. Jun–Jul, fr. Jul–Sep.
Wild or cultivated in forests, shrubby thickets; 2500–3000 m. Gansu, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan
The roots are frequently used in the important traditional Chinese medicine “dang gui.”
