Luo Bu Ma Ye

Apocynum venetum L. (Chinese dogbane, also called Russian dogbane or luobuma) is a small woody perennial subshrub in the Apocynaceae, 0.5-2 m tall, native to saline-alkaline soils, riverbanks, and steppe regions of China (notably Xinjiang and the Yellow River basin), Central Asia, and the southern Russian steppe. Stems are slender, reddish-purple to brownish, glabrous, and exude a milky latex when broken. Leaves are opposite or sometimes alternate, narrowly oblong to lanceolate, 1.5-5 cm long, 0.5-1.5 cm wide, with entire margins, an acute apex, a short petiole, and a leathery texture, dark green above and paler beneath. Small, pinkish-purple, urn-shaped flowers are borne in terminal corymbose cymes in summer, followed by paired slender pendent follicles releasing seeds bearing tufts of silky hairs.