假人参 jia ren shen

Aralia pseudoginseng (Wallich) Bentham ex C. B. Clarke; A. quinquefolia (Linnaeus) Decaisne & Planchon var. pseudoginseng (Wallich) Burkill.

Herbs, perennial, ca. 50 cm tall. Rootstock short, with 2-5 fleshy roots, fusiform, 2-4 cm, ca. 1 cm in diam. Leaves usually 4, verticillate at apex of stem, palmately compound; bases of petiole and petiolules with numerous lanceolate, stipulelike appendages; leaflets 3 or 4, obovate-elliptic to obovate-oblong, 9-10 × 3.5-4 cm (lateral ones smaller), membranous, abaxially glabrous, adaxially setose on veins (trichomes 1.5-2 mm), base attenuate, margin biserrate, apex long caudate-acuminate. Inflorescence a solitary, terminal umbel 20-50-flowered; peduncle ca. 12 cm; pedicels ca. 1 cm, glabrous. Ovary 2-carpellate; styles 2 divided, reflexed.

Forests; 2400-4200 m. S Xizang [?Bhutan, ?N India, Nepal].

This species is used medicinally.