Chinese herbal medicine "Wuzhishan ginseng" is used for its root and rhizome and has the function of refreshing the mind and nourishing the body. Now let's learn about the picture of Wuzhishan ginseng!
Wuzhishan Ginseng
【Morphological Characteristics of Wuzhishan Ginseng】
Wuzhishan ginseng is a perennial herb, 40-100 cm tall, with radish-like fleshy roots and branches covered in rough hairs.
The leaves have various shapes, with the lower leaves being ovate and the upper leaves being ovate-lanceolate, arrow-shaped, or palmately 3-5 shallowly or deeply lobed. The lobes are broadly ovate to broadly lanceolate, 3-10 cm long, with blunt tips and heart-shaped or lanceolate bases. The margins are serrated or notched, and the upper surface is sparsely covered in prickly hairs, while the lower surface is covered in long stiff hairs.
The petioles are 4-8 cm long and sparsely covered in long stiff hairs. The flowers are solitary in the leaf axils, with slender pedicels, 4-7 cm long, and densely covered in rough hairs.
The bracts are 6-12, linear, 1-1.7 mm wide, and approximately 1.5 cm long, sparsely covered in long stiff hairs.
The calyx is tubular, about 7 mm long, with 5 teeth at the apex and dense fine hairs.
The flowers are red or yellow, with a diameter of 4-5 cm, and the petals are inverted ovate-elliptic, 3-4 cm long.
The filaments are about 2 cm long, smooth and hairless, and the style branches are 5, with a flattened stigma.
The capsules are ellipsoid, about 3 cm long and 2 cm in diameter, covered in prickly hairs, and have a short beak. The seeds are kidney-shaped with glandular stripes. The flowering period is from May to September.
Wuzhishan ginseng has a great variation in leaf shape, ranging from ovate to palmately lobed to lanceolate, all on the same plant. Even the number of bracts is not fixed, ranging from 6 to 12.
