Hu Er Cao

Saxifraga stolonifera Curtis (Saxifragaceae), strawberry begonia or creeping saxifrage, called Hu Er Cao ("tiger's-ear herb") in Chinese, is a low-growing evergreen perennial 15-45 cm tall, native to East Asia in moist shaded rocky habitats. The plant spreads vegetatively by slender thread-like red stolons that root at their tips. Leaves are basal in a rosette, on long red-hairy petioles, with kidney-shaped to broadly ovate, fleshy blades 3-6 cm wide, dark green with prominent silvery veins above and reddish-purple beneath, with shallow, rounded, irregularly toothed margins and a coarsely hairy surface, evocative of a tiger's ear. The flowering scape rises 20-45 cm bearing an open panicle of small zygomorphic white flowers, each with three small upper petals and two large strap-like drooping lower petals 1-2 cm long. The whole plant, collected year-round, is used to clear heat, cool blood, resolve toxins, dispel wind, and treat otitis, sores, and cough.