Saposhnikovia divaricata seed Laserwort

LATIN NAME: Saposhnikovia divaricata

COMMON NAME: Laserwort

Laserwort is the tough, aromatic herb of the dry, grassy hills of the northern Asia, and it has been a familiar of the traditional medicine of the region for a very long time. The plant grows a deep, sturdy taproot and a clump of the finely divided, feathery leaves, with loose heads of the small, white or pinkish flowers on the branched stems through the summer. The whole plant carries a strong, earthy, aromatic scent. It is a quiet, useful plant of the dry, open ground, and the root is the part that has been prized through the ages.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

Laserwort has a steady place in the plant science, mostly because of the compounds found in its root. The root has been worked on for its traditional uses and the chemistry behind them, and the plant keeps showing up in the work on the medicinal herbs of the region. The identification and the cultivation of the true species have been a careful subject of the botanical studies, since the name has been used for a few related plants. The plant is also a quiet subject of the work on the sustainable harvest of the wild medicinal roots, so the science here is careful and ongoing.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

Laserwort has a long history of use as a traditional remedy, and the dried root has been traded for centuries as a valued commodity in the herbal markets of the east. The plant is also grown as an ornamental for its fine, airy foliage and its quiet flowers, and the young shoots and the leaves have a traditional use in the kitchen. Around the garden it is a tough, easy plant of the dry, sunny, well-drained ground. It has been written up in the botanical and the traditional-medicine papers for its long and careful history of use, so the story here is well backed by the records.

Laserwort is the root that has been traded in the herbal markets of the eastern Asia for a very long time, and it is one of the most widely used of the traditional herbs of the region. The deep, sturdy taproot is dug in the autumn, dried and cut into the thin slices, and it has been used for centuries in the traditional practice. The plant is also grown as a quiet ornamental for its fine, airy foliage, and the whole plant carries a strong, earthy, aromatic scent. In the garden it is a tough, easy plant of the dry, sunny, well-drained ground, and it asks for very little beyond the open sun.

Laserwort seeds do well with a cold, damp spell before they wake. Tuck them into a little moist sand and keep them in the fridge for a few weeks, then sow them at a shallow depth in pots of gritty, free-draining soil. Keep the pots in a bright, open, cool spot and water them gently. The seedlings come up in their own good time and grow on into strong young plants with the fine, aromatic leaves. Give them a sunny, well-drained spot, and the deep taproot will do the rest.

Plants 30–80 cm high. Rootstock to 2 cm thick. Basal leaves numerous; petioles flattened, with ovate sheaths; leaf blades oblong-ovate to broad-ovate, 14–35 × 6–8(–18) cm, 2-pinnate; pinnae 3–4 pairs, petiolulate; ultimate segments linear-lanceolate or cuneate-obovate, 3-lobed at apex, 2–5 × 0.5–2.5 cm. Leaves reduced upwards. Umbels numerous, ca. 6 cm across; peduncles 2–5 cm; rays 5–7, 3–5 cm; bracteoles 4–6, ca. 3 mm, acuminate; umbellules 4–5-flowered. Petals ca. 1.5 mm. Fruit 4–5 × 2–3 mm, tuberculate when young, becoming smooth when mature. Fl. Aug–Sep, fr. Sep–Oct. n = 8*.
The root is used as the important traditional Chinese medicine “fang feng.”
(Fang feng) Important Chinese remedy for colds,The roots which can be 2cm/1" thick are analgesic, antipyretic, and antibacterial. Also used to harmonize the spleen and liver, and to treat migraine and rheumatoid arthritis. Close relative to parsley; aromatic leaves are eaten as a pot-herb.