Liu Ji Nu

Artemisia anomala is an erect perennial herb in the Asteraceae, native to central, eastern, and southern China and adjacent parts of Vietnam, growing in moist mountain valleys, forest margins, and along streams. From a slender creeping rhizome, ridged purplish stems rise 50-150 cm tall, branching above. The alternate leaves are ovate-lanceolate to elliptic, 7-15 cm long, with serrate to coarsely toothed margins, dark green and nearly glabrous above, paler beneath; the lower leaves are short-petiolate, the upper sessile. Small bell-shaped flower heads about 2 mm long are borne in dense narrow terminal panicles in late summer to autumn, each head containing several yellow disc florets and a few outer female florets. The dried flowering aerial parts constitute Liu Ji Nu.