Eleutherococcus leucorrhizus Oliv.

This species is used medicinally.

Shrubs, to 4 m tall, sometimes climbers. Branches glabrous, with few, slender, terete prickles generally at nodes. Petiole 3-10 cm; petiolule of central leaflet 3-6 mm; leaflets (3-)5, oblong, oblanceolate, or lanceolate, rarely obovate, 6-14 × 2.5-6 cm, papery, both surfaces glabrous (rarely abaxially pubescent when young, glabrescent), secondary veins 6-10 pairs, base cuneate, margin sharply biserrate, apex acuminate or long acuminate. Inflorescence terminal, a corymbose panicle of umbels or a solitary umbel, borne on leafy shoots; peduncles 0.6-10 cm; pedicels 1-2 cm, glabrous. Calyx with 5 teeth, glabrous. Corolla yellowish green. Ovary 5-carpellate, glabrous; styles united into a column. Fruit ovoid-globose, 5-7 mm in diam.; styles persistent, 1-1.2 cm. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Aug-Nov.

Anhui, Gansu, Guangdong, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [?Bhutan].

● Scrub fields, forests, forest margins in valleys; 100-3200 m.