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.

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.

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)].