Asclepias paniculata Bunge, Enum. Pl. China Bor. 43. 1833; Cynanchum dubium Kitagawa; Pycnostelma chinense Bunge ex Decaisne; P. leucanthum Kitagawa; P. paniculatum (Bunge) K. Schumann; Vincetoxicum paniculatum (Bunge) C. Y. Wu & D. Z. Li; V. pycnostachys Kitagawa.

Roots densely fibrous, fragrant. Stems slender, erect, to 1 m, glabrous or hispid below, rigid, unbranched or with few branches from upper parts. Leaves opposite; petiole ca. 3 mm; leaf blade lanceolate to linear, 5-13 × 0.5-1.5 cm, stiffly papery, glabrous or adaxially puberulent, ciliate, base and apex acute; lateral veins obscure. Inflorescences terminal and from upper nodes, laxly branched, to 7 cm; peduncle 2.5-4 cm. Pedicel 5-10 mm. Sepals lanceolate, 1-1.5 × ca. 0.5 mm; glands present or absent. Corolla yellow-green, subrotate, glabrous; tube short; lobes ovate, 4-5.5 × 1.5-3 mm. Corona deeply 5-lobed; lobes ovate-oblong, fleshy, slightly laterally compressed, apex obtuse, as long as anthers, adaxially keeled up to middle and adnate to anthers. Anther appendages semiorbicular, slightly shorter than stigma head; pollinia oblong. Stigma head subumbonate. Follicles lanceolate in outline, 4-8 cm × 3-8 mm. Seeds oblong, ca. 5 × 3 mm; coma 1.5-3 cm. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Aug-Dec. 2n = 22*.

All parts are used as medicine for the treatment of stomachache, enteritis, infantile malnutrition due to intestinal parasites, toothache, traumatic injury, and snake bites.

Sunny mountain slopes. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Mongolia]