Japanese name: アマニュウ Scientific name:Angelica edulis
[Overview]
A perennial found in slightly moist grasslands and riverside forests in the mountains and highlands; in Hokkaido it grows at forest edges and similar places.
The stem is 1–2 m tall, sometimes as much as 3 m, hollow, erect, and branches in the upper part.
The leaves are alternate, 1–2 times ternately pinnately compound.
The leaflets are broadly ovate, 10–20 cm long and rather thin; the terminal leaflet is 3-lobed, and the lateral leaflets are often shallowly lobed as well.
The leaflet margins are serrated.
The leaf stalk is slightly swollen and sheath-like.
Large compound umbels up to 20 cm across at the stem tips bear many small white 5-petaled flowers.
The petal tips curve inward.
The inflorescence has no involucral bracts, and the bractlets are linear.
The fruit is a flattened oblong mericarp with narrow, thin lateral wings.
[Uses]
The rhizomes and roots are used medicinally.
The young leaves and young leaf stalks are used as wild vegetables.
