Liaoning Asarum

Liaoning Asarum

　　Asarum is a perennial, shade-loving herbaceous plant of the Aristolochiaceae family, primarily distributed in the forested areas of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang, with over 2,000 years of cultivation history. In Liaoning Province, Asarum is mainly found in the eastern mountainous regions such as Kuandian, Fengcheng, Huanren, Benxi, and Xinbin. Dandong is the main production area and it is commonly referred to as “Liaoning Asarum,” which is considered a premium variety with high medicinal value. With wild Asarum nearly extinct, Dandong began cultivating it successfully in the early 1980s. The city’s Asarum cultivation area exceeds 3,400 acres, with an annual output of over 530 tons, and suitable mountainous land for Asarum cultivation spans more than 200,000 acres. In traditional Chinese medicine, the whole Asarum plant is used as medicine. It is warm in nature, pungent in flavor, and known for warming meridians, dispelling cold, resolving fluid retention, dispelling wind, and relieving pain. It is mainly used to treat conditions such as wind-cold headaches, phlegm-fluid cough and wheezing, rheumatic arthralgia, toothache, and nasal congestion. In recent years, it has also been applied in health products and building materials, and exported to countries and regions including South Korea. Market price: dried goods at 28 RMB per kilogram. (Dandong)