Huang Lian

Coptis chinensis is a low-growing herbaceous perennial in the Ranunculaceae, endemic to central and southern China, where it inhabits cool, moist, shaded broadleaved and mixed forests at elevations of 500-2,000 m. Plants reach 15-25 cm tall and arise from a creeping, knotty, bright golden-yellow rhizome that branches sympodially, leaving distinct nodal scars. The basal leaves are long-petiolate and ternately compound, the central leaflet ovate with deeply incised, sharply serrate lobes and the lateral leaflets asymmetrically two-lobed; all are leathery and dark green with sunken veins. In early spring slender flowering scapes bear loose cymes of three to eight small, greenish-white to pale yellow flowers, each with five to six narrow petaloid sepals and shorter, club-shaped true petals. The fruits are stalked clusters of green follicles that split to release a few small black seeds. The rhizomes are lifted in autumn after several years of cultivation.