Rehmannia glutinosa (Gaertn.) Dc.

Herbs, 10-30 cm tall, densely villous with glandular and eglandular hairs. Rhizomes to 5.5 cm, fleshy. Stems purple-red. Basal leaves usually rosulate. Stem leaves gradually or abruptly decreasing in size or reduced to bracts upward; leaf blade ovate to narrowly elliptic, 2-13 X 1-6 cm, base tapering, margin irregularly crenate or obtusely serrate to toothed. Flowers axillary or in terminal racemes. Pedicel 0.5-3 cm, slender, ascending. Bracteoles absent. Calyx 1-1.5 cm, 10-veined; lobes 5, oblong-lanceolate, ovate-lanceolate, or subtriangular, 5-6 X 2-3 mm, rarely 2 lower lobes further lobed. Corolla 3-4.5 cm, white villous; tube narrow; lobes outside purple-red, inside yellow-purple, 5-7 X 4-10 mm, apex obtuse to emarginate. Stamens 4; anther locules oblong, ca. 2.5 mm, base divaricate. Ovary 2-loculed when young, 1-loculed with age. Capsule ovoid to narrowly ovoid, 1-1.5 cm. Fl. and fr. Apr-Jul.

It is a subtropical plant. In north China it grows on mountain slopes below 1,100 m above sea level. It suits hardiness zones 8-10.

The leaves can be boiled and eaten. They can be powdered and mixed with the juice from the root and cooked and eaten. The root is steamed and sun dried nine times before eating. It is used in Chinese tonic soups often with chicken and pork. It is available dried, wine cured or steam-cured. CAUTION: Presumably the root is toxic without properly processing.

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings.