Angelica acutiloba

Angelica acutiloba is a perennial herb from the family Apiaceae or Umbelliferous (carrot or parsley family). It is predominately in Japan and perhaps endemic (unique). It is now distributed widely and cultivated in Jilin, China, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia. The common name of Angelica acutiloba is known as tōki (トウキ, 当帰) in Japanese. The root was used as a substitute for the crude drug tōki (当帰) in Kampō medicine (漢方製薬 Kanpō Seiyaku), which is a Japanese adaptation of Traditional Chinese medicine. The Traditional Chinese medicine uses the root of a different species A. sinensis, Chinese: 当归; pinyin: dāngguī. The Latin pharmacological name for the crude drug, Radix Angelica sinensis, refers to the dried roots of A. sinensis. In China, as a substitute species, A. acutiloba, is known as Chinese: 东当归; pinyin: dōngdāngguī. Literally “东” means “eastern” or “东洋”, which is equivalent to the meaning of Japan. So the medicine is also called as Japanese Angelica root. (See #Etymology) The Japanese name, tōki (トウキ, 当帰), has a literally meaning like “recovering good health”. A. acutiloba var. acutiloba grows in the banks and valleys, from Honshu (North of Shiga Preecture)to Hokkaido. While A. acutiloba var. iwatensis grows in high altitude, mountainous terrains and grasslands, distributed throughout temperate areas. The crop cultivated in Nara Prefecture has been known as Yamato tōki or Ōfuka-tōki (the latter after Ōfukachō in Gojō, Nara), reputedly superior to the Hokkaido-grown Hokkai tōki, and though the latter has a been classed subspecies in the past, it is assigned a senior category of variety: A. acutiloba grows to about 0.3-1 meter high. The color of the stems is from reddish to purplish. The stems are erect, glabrous and thinly ribbed. The leaves are deep green, and alternately arranged, often in a leathery or fleshy texture. In most cases, the lower and basal leaves are petiolate or perfoliate. The petioles attached to them are about 10–30 cm in length. The mature blades are one or two pinnatified. Young blades are usually three pinnatifid. The leaves are of variable sizes. The upper leaves are simplified to oblong, with lanceolate and dentate incised blades. The leaf lobes are about 2–9 cm long and 1–3 cm wide. Most leaves are sessile, but sometimes they bear short stalks. The tips of the mature leaves are acuminate to acute and the bases of them are cuneate to truncate. The flowers are characterized as the inflorescence: a compound umbel. A. acutiloba's flowers are perfect or hermaphroditic and actinomorphic, with distinct calyx and white corolla. However, the calyx is often reduced with obsolete calyx teeth. The flowers have five petals, sepals, and stamens. The white petals are often obovate to oblong. The inflorescences contain fifteen to forty-five pubescent rays, 1–10 cm in length, which surround about thirty small disk flowers. The peduncles which hold the entire inflorescence are glabrous or pubescent and 5–20 cm long. While the stalks of each single flower in the flower clusters called pedicels, are thin and often sessile. The whorl of bracts beneath the inflorescences is called involucre. It consists of phyllaries, modified bracts, which are linear-lanceolate or linear and 1–2 cm long. It also consists of smaller young phyllaries, which are glabrous and 5–15 mm long. The androecium contains five stamens, while the gynoecium contains two carpels fused into a single pistil with an inferior, glabrous ovary. The plant blossoms from July to August. When mature, flowers secrete nectar. The strong floral scent attracts pollinators like insects.