Asarum heterotropoides var. mandshuricum

[Pinyin name] Běi Xì Xīn

[English name] Asarum, Chinese Wild Ginger

[Aliases] Yandai Guohua, Xishen

[Source] The whole plant of Asarum heterotropoldes Fr. Schmidt var. mandshuricum (Maxim.) Kitag., a plant of the Aristolochiaceae family. It is harvested in summer when the fruit is ripe or in early autumn, washed free of mud and sand, and dried in the shade.

[Original morphology] Perennial herb, 10-30cm tall. The rhizome grows horizontally, about 3mm in diameter, branching at the tip, with internodes 2-3mm long; many slender roots grow from the nodes, the roots about 1mm thick, pungent and aromatic when rubbed. Leaves usually 2, heart-shaped or kidney-shaped-cordate, 4-9cm long and 5-13cm wide, with short hairs on the veins and denser hairs beneath; petiole about 15cm long. Flowers solitary in the leaf axils; the perianth tube is pot-shaped, purple, with 3 lobes at the tip, the lobes recurved outward; stamens 12, the filaments and anthers nearly equal in length; ovary half-inferior, styles 6. Capsule fleshy, hemispherical. Flowering in May, fruiting in June.