椴叶独活 duan ye du huo

Plants stout, 1–2 m high. Root cylindrical. Basal leaves long-petiolate; leaf blade ternate, trifoliolate; leaflets round-ovate, undivided or 3-lobed, 6–9 × 5–14 cm, both surfaces sparsely hispidulous, base cordate, margin crenate-serrate or serrate, apex mucronate or acuminate. Cauline leaves similar to the basal, reduced upward, 3-lobed, sessile, sheaths broad-ovate. Terminal umbels ca. 15 cm wide; bracts absent; rays 10–15 (–22), unequal, 4–8 cm, villous; bracteoles 5, lanceolate, shorter than pedicels; umbellules 25–30-flowered. Calyx teeth obsolete. Petals white, outer flowers of umbels radiant, enlarged petals deeply 2-lobed. Young ovary puberulous. Fruit obovoid, 6–10 × 4–6 mm, glabrous; dorsal ribs filiform, lateral ribs broadly winged, wing less than width of mericarp body; vittae solitary in each furrow, clavate, extending to 3/4 length of mericarp, 2 on commissure, about half as long as mericarp. Seed face plane. Fl. Jun–Aug, fr. Aug–Sep.

Forest margins, thickets on streamsides; ca. 1000 m. Hunan, N Jiangxi (Lu Shan).

This species has reputed medicinal value.