Huang Jing

Polygonatum sibiricum, commonly known as Siberian Solomon's seal or by its Chinese name Huang Jing, is a rhizomatous perennial herb in the family Asparagaceae native to northern and central China, Mongolia, Siberia, the Korean Peninsula and adjacent regions of eastern Asia. It grows from a stout, fleshy, often branched, pale yellow rhizome which is harvested for medicinal use; the rhizome typically bears swollen segments separated by constrictions and is the source of the Chinese common name Huang Jing (yellow essence). The unbranched, somewhat arching stem rises 50 to 90 cm tall and bears whorls of four to six narrowly lanceolate, linear-lanceolate leaves whose tips are characteristically curled or recurved. Small, tubular, white to pale greenish-yellow flowers hang in clusters of two to four from the leaf axils in late spring to early summer. The fruit is a small, blue-black berry. The species occurs in mountain forests, slopes and shaded ravines, and the rhizome has been used as both a tonic herb and a famine food for centuries.