Xuan Shen

Scrophularia ningpoensis is a tall herbaceous perennial in the Scrophulariaceae, native to central and eastern China, where it grows in moist, shaded sites along forest margins, stream banks and grassy slopes between 800 and 2,400 m elevation. Plants reach 60-150 cm tall from a cluster of thick, fleshy, spindle-shaped roots that are pale grey-brown outside and turn black on drying. The erect, four-angled stems are usually unbranched below and bear opposite, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate leaves 7-20 cm long, with serrate margins, pointed tips and short petioles. In summer to early autumn the species produces narrow, open, terminal panicles of small dingy yellow-green to dull purple flowers, each tubular with a two-lipped limb about 8 mm long. The fruits are ovoid capsules containing many small, angular seeds. The species is cultivated in Zhejiang Province, where the roots are lifted in late autumn and steamed or sweated before drying.