云木香 yun mu xiang

Aplotaxis lappa Decaisne; Saussurea costus (Falconer) Lipschitz; S. lappa (Decaisne) Schultz Bipontinus.

Herbs (0.4-)1-1.5(-2) m tall, perennial. Rootstock 1-5 cm in diam. Stems 1.5-2 cm in diam., simple or apically branched. Basal and lower stem leaves petiolate; petiole 10-40 cm, broadly winged and lobate; leaf blade lyrate, cordate, or triangular-hastate, 20-50 × 10-30 cm, abaxially sparsely pubescent and gland-dotted, adaxially sparsely strigose, margin sinuate-dentate and mucronate, apex acute. Middle and upper stem leaves petiolate or sessile; leaf blade lyrate, ovate, or triangular-ovate, (5-)10-45 × (3-)5-25 cm. Capitula (1 or)2-5, clustered in a synflorescence or sometimes solitary, sessile. Involucre hemispheric, 2-4 cm in diam. Phyllaries in 7-10 rows, dark purple to black, apically arachnoid but glabrescent, apex spiniform and reflexed; outer phyllaries narrowly triangular-ovate, (8-)15-20 × 1-2 mm; middle phyllaries narrowly ovate-elliptic, 1.5-2 × 0.2-0.3 cm; inner phyllaries narrowly elliptic-linear, 1.8-2.5 × 0.2-0.3 cm. Receptacle bristles subulate, 5-12 mm. Corolla dark blackish purple, 1.5-2 cm, tube 7-12 mm, limb 7-10 mm, lobes 4-5 mm. Achene brown with black spots, obconic to cylindric, 6-8 mm, apically wrinkled, apex with a crenulate or dentate crown. Pappus straw-colored, 1.2-1.7 cm. Fl. and fr. May-Aug. 2n = 36.

Cultivated in Anhui, Fujian, Guangxi, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Zhejiang [native to and also cultivated in NW India, Kashmir, and NE Pakistan].

The roots of Aucklandia costus are used medicinally.