Japanese Angelica

Angelica acutiloba is a perennial herb of the carrot family, found mainly in Japan and perhaps endemic there, and now cultivated also in Jilin in China, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia. It grows 0.3 to 1 metre tall, with reddish to purplish erect stems and deep-green leaves, in moist clay soils. Its Japanese name is tōki. The root is the crude drug tōki of Kampō, the Japanese adaptation of traditional Chinese medicine, where it is used for gynaecological diseases. Traditional Chinese medicine uses the root of a different species, Angelica sinensis, called dāngguī, and treats A. acutiloba, there known as dōngdāngguī, as a substitute. The root holds about 2 percent volatile oils, such as ligustilide and n-butylidenephthalide. The leaves are edible, and the plant is grown as an ornamental. Nara's Yamato tōki is reputed superior to Hokkaido's Hokkai tōki.