Changbai Daphne

Changbai Daphne

　　Changbai Daphne is a unique plant native to the Changbai Mountain region. Also known as horseradish root or Zushi hemp, it is a deciduous shrub of the Thymelaeaceae family with underground creeping rhizomes. Its bark is smooth and grayish-brown or grayish-white in color. The branches are flexible and wrinkled. The leaves are alternate, ovate-lanceolate in shape. The flowers are bisexual, pale yellowish-white, and the fruit is a berry that is green when young and turns bright red or red when mature. The flowering period is from April to May, and the fruiting period is from June to September. Changbai Daphne grows in mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests as well as coniferous forests at altitudes of 600–1,800 meters, often found in the understory and forest edges. It is distributed in areas such as Antu, Fusong, Changbai, and Helong within the Changbai Mountain region of Jilin Province. In recent years, Changbai Daphne has also been one of the newly researched and developed medicinal herbs, with both the whole plant and its rhizomes being used for medicinal purposes.