Penthorum chinense Pursh

Herbs perennial, large, 40-65(-90) cm tall. Rhizome branched. Stems usually simple, rarely branched at base, proximally glabrous, distally sparsely brown glandular hairy. Leaves sessile or subsessile; leaf blade lanceolate to narrowly so, 4-10 cm × 4-12 mm, glabrous, margin serrulate, apex acuminate. Cyme 1.5-4 cm; branches brown glandular hairy; bracts ovate to narrowly so, small; pedicels 1-2.2 mm, brown glandular hairy. Flowers yellowish, small. Sepals 5, triangular, ca. 1.5 × 1.1 mm, leathery, glabrous, 1-veined. Petals 5 or absent. Stamens 10, ca. 2.5 mm. Pistil ca. 3.1 mm; carpels 5(or 6), connate near base; ovary 5(or 6)-loculed; styles 5(or 6). Capsule red-purple, 4-5 mm in diam. Seeds ovoid-oblong, tuberculate. Fl. and fr. Jul-Aug. 2n = 16.

Anhui, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan [Japan, Korea, Laos, Mongolia, Russia, Thailand, Vietnam].

Forests, scrub meadows, wet places along rivers in lowlands, by water; 100-2200 m.

Penthorum humile Regel & Maack; P. intermedium Turczaninow; P. sedoides Linnaeus subsp. chinense (Pursh) S. Y. Li & K. T. Adair; P. sedoides var. chinense (Pursh) Maximowicz.

Penthorum chinense, commonly known as Oriental penthorum, is a plant species native to much of East Asia. It has been reported from China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Russia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. It is one of only two species in the genus, the other being Penthorum sedoides, native to the United States and Canada.

Penthorum chinense is a perennial herb up to 90 cm (35 inches) tall, spreading by underground rhizomes. Aerial stems are usually unbranched, with lanceolate leaves up to 10 cm (4 inches) long. Flowers are yellow, borne in a cyme at the top of the stem.