Aralia cordata Thunb.

Herbs, perennial, 0.5-3 m tall. Stem stout, with elongate, cylindric rhizome. Leaves 2-or 3-pinnately compound; petiole 15-30 cm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent; petiolules to 2.5 cm (terminal one to 5 cm); leaflets 3-5 per pinna, narrowly ovate to oblong-ovate, 4-15 × 3-9 cm, membranous to subleathery, abaxially sparsely pubescent on veins, adaxially glabrous, secondary veins 6-8 pairs, tertiary veins distinct abaxially, inconspicuous adaxially, base rounded to cordate, margin coarsely serrate, apex acute. Inflorescence a lax terminal or axillary few branched panicle of umbels; primary axis longer than 10 cm; bracts linear, 3-5 mm; umbels racemosely arranged, few-to many flowered; pedicels 1-1.2 cm, filiform, pubescent. Ovary 5-carpellate; styles 5, free. Fruit globose, ca. 3 mm in diam.; styles persistent, ca. 2 mm. 2n = 24*, 48*.

Thickets and thin woods, esp. By streams and ravines, all over Japan. Shaded places in forests, grasslands on slopes; at elevations from 1,300-1,600 metres in southern and eastern China.

The shoots are briefly boiled then added to salads or cooked more and used in other dishes. The roots are eaten like parsnips.

Plants can be grown from seed or by division. The young shoots are kept covered with soil to blanch them.