Plants perennial, 0.4–1 m. Root cylindric, branched, rootlets many, succulent, strongly aromatic. Stem purplish green, ribbed, branched above. Basal and lower petioles 5–20 cm, sheaths purplish green, ovate, membranous-margined; blade ovate, 10–30 × 12–25 cm, 2–3-ternate-pinnate, pinnae 3–4 pairs, proximal and middle pinnae long-petiolulate; leaflets ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 2–3.5 × 0.8–2.5 cm, 2–3-lobed, margin irregularly coarse-cuspidate-serrate, sparse papillate-hairy along nerves and margin. Peduncles 8–20 cm, pubescent or subglabrous; bracts absent or 2, linear; rays 10–30, unequal, scabrous; bracteoles 2–4, linear, 3–5 mm; umbellules 13–36-flowered; pedicels slender, 1–3 cm in fruit. Calyx teeth obsolete, rarely minute, ovate. Petals white, rarely purplish red. Fruit ellipsoid or suborbicular, 4–6 × 3–4 mm; dorsal ribs filiform, prominent, lateral ribs broadly thin-winged, wings as wide as or wider than the body; vittae 1 in each furrow, 2 or absent on commissure. Fl. Jun–Jul, fr. Jul–Sep.
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A herb that keeps growing from year to year. It grows 75 cm to 1.25 m tall. It spreads 40-90 cm wide. It has a short underground stem or rhizome. The stems are upright. The leaves are divided into leaflets along the stalk. They are grey-green but can be flushed with purple. The leaves are 20-30 cm long. The flowers are greenish and in a flat head. The leaves are narrowly oval and have notches along them.
High ground in cool and damp areas of western and north-western China. Forests and shrubby thickets at elevations from 2,500-3,000 metres.
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It is a temperate plant. It is hardy to frost. It grows between 2,500-3,000 m above sea level. In Sichuan and Yunnan.