Korean barrenwort is a spring-blooming woodland perennial from Korea and Japan, with pale yellow, long-red flowers shaped like a ship's anchor that dangle beneath the leaves. It's one of the plants used in the Chinese herbal medicine sold as horny goat weed. It does not grow wild in North America.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A clump-forming perennial about 1 ft (30 cm) tall, up to 2 ft (60 cm) in Japanese accounts, that dies back to its creeping rootstock in winter.
- Leaves
- Each leaf divides into three parts, each with three leaflets—nine in all. Leaflets are pointed and egg-shaped, with fine bristly hairs along the edges.
- Flowers
- Four pale yellow petals, each with a slender spur about 3/4–1 in (20–24 mm) long, giving the flower the look of a ship's anchor. Some plants have cream, pinkish, or pale purple flowers.
- Flowering time
- Blooms in April and May in Korea and Japan.
- Fruit
- A small dry capsule about 1/2 in (1 cm) long that splits open to release the seeds.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Mountain forest floors
- Forest edges
- Range
- Native to Korea and Japan (Hokkaido and the Sea of Japan side of Honshu). It is not native to the United States.
- Preferred conditions
- Prefers partly shaded, cool forest floors with rich, well-drained soil full of leaf litter, and suffers in summer heat.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
- Status
- In Korea, news reports in the late 1990s said wild plants near Cheorwon were being dug up in large numbers for use as a tonic.
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- Products sold as horny goat weed are marketed for low libido and impotence, but human research is limited, and safety, especially during pregnancy and breastfeeding, is poorly studied.
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