Chuan Xiong

Ligusticum chuanxiong (Chuan Xiong, Szechuan lovage), closely allied with Ligusticum sinense, is a perennial herb in the Apiaceae family, growing 40 to 70 centimeters tall from a knotty, irregularly globose, fist-shaped rhizome 2 to 7 centimeters in diameter, externally yellowish-brown with prominent annular nodes and conspicuous root scars, internally pale yellowish-white with scattered yellow-brown oil cavities producing an intensely sweet, warming, characteristically aromatic odor. The hollow stems are erect, finely grooved, and bear large bi- to tri-pinnately compound leaves with deeply incised, narrowly lanceolate ultimate segments. Compound umbels 5 to 10 centimeters across appear in summer, with numerous rays bearing small white flowers; involucral and involucellar bracts are linear. The schizocarp fruits are oblong-ovoid with prominent dorsal ribs. Predominantly cultivated rather than wild-collected, the species is grown extensively in Sichuan, China (the source of the name Chuan Xiong), where rhizomes are harvested in summer after the second year, smoke-dried, and sliced.