Please note, orders for potted plants will be shipped starting Early June, 2022.
Dang-shen, pilosula (Codonopsis pilosula), potted plant, organic
$7.50
Family: Bellflower (Campanulaceae)
Hardy to Zones 5 to 9
(Dang-shen, Poor Man’s Ginseng) Twining and vining perennial native to China. Traditional usage (TCM): builds chi and tonifies the blood. A soft and pretty climber with bell-shaped blossoms. The roots are crunchy, very sweet, quite delicious. The herb in TCM is the pressed and dried, rolled root that is sugary and chewy. Highly recommended. Plant prefers part shade and something to climb on–preferably another upright plant but lacking that at least a string. It can be grown in the sun when climbing on another plant, because the plant shades it. Space plants 2 feet apart.
Potted plant, Certified Organically Grown
In stock
Jerry (verified owner) –
Unfortunately I was rather careless in unpacking it. The plant is very fragile and was wrapped in newspaper. I snapped off the top part and don’t know whether it will recover.
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Admin Richo Cech –
Right, the aerial parts are very fragile. Just depot the root and check it out to give you faith. Its already 3 years old and has made and lost aeril parts plenty of times already. Plant to a gallon pot as suggested and it will eventually push up new vines.
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Question
melaniekerrigan11 –
When are the roots ready to be used medicinally?
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Admin Richo Cech –
Not until the second year and older–they are relatively slow-growing. This info is on page 162 of my book “Making Plant Medicine” and I also recommend Peg Schafer’s book “The Chinese Medicinal Herb Farm.” Cheers, richo
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asheelar (verified owner) –
Hi Richo, I just bought 4 and transplanted them into 1 G pots as soon as I received them. Same soil, watering, location, and sun exposure BUT 2 are doing great, the other 2 have lost all their leaves and seem dry (there’s plenty of moisture in the soil though). Can I still hope they will recover? or did I kill them? 🙂
Thanks!
-Annalisa
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Admin Richo Cech –
Hi Asheelar,
Thanks for contacting about this. It seems that Codonopsis almost always loses its tops in shipment, a reaction to stress and light-deprivation I expect. The perennial tuberous root remains viable when the tops die back and will re-emerge in season. The plant is sweet but temperamental.
Richo
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asheelar (verified owner) –
That’s great! thank you so much 🙂
-Annalisa
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