明党参 ming dang shen

Conopodium smyrnioides (H. Wolff) M. Hiroe.

Plants 50–100 cm. Taproot surface tawny to pale yellow, inner parts white, starchy. Branches remote and spreading, often alternate, branchlets alternate or opposite. Petiole 3–15 cm; blade 4–10 × 2–5 cm; pinnae broadly ovate, pinnatifid; ultimate segments oblong-lanceolate, 2–4 × 1–2 mm. Leaves reduced upwards, the uppermost reduced to linear or bladeless sheaths. Umbels 3–8 cm across; bracts absent or 1–3, small, ca. 1 cm; rays 4–10, 2.5–10 cm, spreading; bracteoles few, linear, 4–6 mm; umbellules 8–20-flowered. Petals pale purplish when young becoming white. Fruit ovoid-globose, 2–3 × 1.8–2.5 mm. Fl. and fr. Apr–Jun.

Mountain slopes in fertile areas, rock crevices; 100–300 m. Anhui, E Hubei, Jiangsu, NE Jiangxi, Zhejiang.

The root is used in E China as the traditional medicine “ming dang shen.”