拳参 quan shen

Bistorta lapidosa Kitagawa; B. major S. F. Gray; B. officinalis Rafinesque; Persicaria bistorta (Linnaeus) Sampaio; Polygonum lapidosum (Kitagawa) Kitagawa.

Herbs perennial. Rhizomes black-brown, curved, large, 1-3 cm in diam. Stems erect, usually 2 or 3 from a rhizome, 50-80 cm tall, simple, glabrous. Basal leaves long petiolate; petiole 10-20 cm; leaf blade broadly lanceolate or narrowly ovate, 4-18 × 2-5 cm, papery, both surfaces glabrous or abaxially pubescent, base truncate or subcordate, decurrent along petiole forming narrow wing, margin revolute, apex acute or acuminate. Cauline leaves sessile; leaf blade linear or lanceolate; ocrea: lower part green, upper part brown, tubular, membranous, apex oblique, cleft to middle. Inflorescence terminal, spicate, dense, 4-9 cm, 0.8-1.2 cm in diam.; bracts brownish, ovate, membranous, midvein conspicuous, apex acuminate, each 3- or 4-flowered. Pedicels longer than bracts, 5-7 mm, slender. Perianth pinkish or white, 5-parted; tepals elliptic, 2-3 mm. Stamens 8, equaling perianth. Styles 3, free; stigmas capitate. Achenes slightly exceeding persistent perianth, brown, shiny, ellipsoid, trigonous, ca. 3.5 mm. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

Hilly grasslands, meadows; 800-3000 m. Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Zhejiang [Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia; Europe].

This species is used medicinally.