Description from
Flora of China
Plants perennial 1–2.5 m, stout. Root cylindric, brown, 3–5 cm thick, strongly aromatic. Stem purplish green, 2–5(–7–8) cm thick, ribbed, pubescent above. Basal and lower leaves long-petiolate, sheaths oblong-inflated, glabrous; blade triangular-ovate, 30–50 × 25–40 cm, 2–3-ternate-pinnate; leaflets sessile, oblong-elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, 4–10 × 1–4 cm, base slightly decurrent, margin white-cartilaginous and coarse-cuspidate-serrate, apex acute, pubescent along nerves adaxially. Upper leaves reduced, sheaths saccate-inflated, bladeless. Umbels 10–30 cm across; peduncles 5–20 cm, scabrous; bracts absent or 1–2, like uppermost leaves; rays 18–40(–70), short-hairy; bracteoles many, linear-lanceolate, scarious; pedicels many, scabrous. Calyx teeth obsolete. Petals white, obovate and notched. Ovary glabrous or pubescent. Fruit suborbicular, 4–7 × 4–6 mm; dorsal ribs prominent, obtusely thick-rounded, much wider than furrows, lateral ribs broad-winged; vittae 1 in each furrow, 2 on commissure. Fl. Jul–Aug, fr. Aug–Sep.
This species is widely cultivated in N China, where the roots are used as the important traditional Chinese medicine “bai zhi” and as a substitute, known as “dong bei da huo,” for the traditional Chinese medicine “du huo” (see Angelica biserrata). Two cultivars are common: A. dahurica ‘Hangbaizhi’ and A. dahurica ‘Qibaizhi.’
Forest margins, valley grasslands, streamsides; 500–1000 m. Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, N Taiwan [Japan, Korea, Russia (Siberia)].