兔儿伞 tu er san

Cacalia aconitifolia Bunge, Enum. Pl. China Bor. 37. 1833; Senecio aconitifolius (Bunge) Turczaninow.

Herbs, erect, 70-120 cm tall. Rhizomes procumbent, short, with many fibrous roots. Stem purple-brown, simple, glabrous. Stem leaves usually 2(or 3). Lower leaves long petiolate, peltate; petiole 10-16 cm, not winged, glabrous, base amplexicaul; blade abaxially gray, adaxially pale green, 20-30 cm in diam., palmately parted, segments 7-9, twice 2- or 3-fid, lobes 2.5-8 mm wide, linear-lanceolate, initially reflexed, closed umbraculiform, densely arachnoid-tomentose, later open umbraculiform, glabrescent, apex acuminate, irregularly acute. Median leaf petioles 2-6 cm; blades smaller, 12-24 cm in diam.; segments 4 or 5. Uppermost leaves sessile or shortly petiolate, bractlike, lanceolate. Capitula many, discoid, arranged in dense compound corymbs, 6-7 mm in diam.; peduncles 5-16 mm, with few linear bractlets. Involucres tubular, 9-12 × 5-7 mm, glabrous at base, margin scarious. Florets 8-10; corolla pink-white, ca. 1 cm, with narrow, 3.5-4 mm tube and narrowly campanulate limb; lobes 5. Anthers purple, basally shortly hastate. Style branches elongated, compressed, apically obtuse, penicillate-puberulent. Achenes cylindric, 5-6 mm, glabrous, ribbed. Pappus of capillary-like bristles, sordid white to reddish, 8-10 mm. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Oct.

Forest margins on slopes, roadsides; 500-1800 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Russia (Far East)].

The roots and whole plant are used medicinally to relax and activate the tendons, alleviate pain around the waist and of the lower extremities, and to treat injuries.