Pinellia ternata
Perennial with globose tuber 1-2 cm in diam. Leaves 2-5; petiole 15-20 cm long, base sheathing, bulbils present in sheath, at lower or middle portion of petiole as well as at base of leaf blade; leaf blade trifoliolate, sometimes pedate with 5 leaflets; leaflets oblong-elliptic or lanceolate, green above, greenish below, acuminate at apex, cuneate at base, anterior leaflet 3-10 × 1-3 cm; lateral leaflets (3-)4-7.5 × 1.8-2.3 cm; 7-9(-10) primary lateral veins per side, forming a collective vein along margin. Inflorescence with peduncle longer than petioles, 25-35 cm long; peduncle 15-25 cm long; spathe 6-7 cm long, greenish or whitish green, rarely purplish, tube narrowly cylindric, 1.5-2 cm long, limb oblong, green and usually violet at margin, 4-5 × 1.5 cm, obtuse or acute at apex; spadix 9-10 cm long; female zone c. 2 cm long; male zone 5-7 mm long; sterile zone between female and male flowers 3 mm long; appendix 6-7(-8) cm long, green to violet, erect or sigmoid. Female flowers densely arranged; pistil 2.1-2.2 mm long, ovary ovoid, c. 1.8 mm long and 1-1.1 mm in diam., style distinct, attenuate, stigma very small, c. 0.2 mm in diam., not broader than style. Male flowers with thecae elongate, c. 1.2 mm long, opening by a slit. Berries ovoid, yellow green to whitish, with persistent stigma and style, 1-seeded.
A compilation of the chromosome numbers reported in the literature and further own counts for Pinellia ternata are given by Li & al. (1997b). A recent comprehensive cytological study of P. ternata by Chen & al. (2006) revealed the existence of septuploid (2n = 91), octoploid (2n = 104; see also Tae & Kim 2005 under P. koreana), nonuploid (2n = 117) and decaploid (2n = 130) cytotypes, thus all based on x = 13, as well as further indications for extensive series of aneuploid reduction. Assumptions about basic numbers of P. ternata (and thus for Pinellia) different from x = 13 (i.e. x = 7, 9, see Li & al. 1997b, Tae & Kim 2005) should be taken with great caution in the light of these new data; early counts for P. ternata of, e.g., 2n = 28 (for references see Li & al. 1997b) would need confirmation and counts of higher ploidy levels deviating from x = 13 are apparently due to aneuploid reduction.
Growing in grassy land, secondary forests, wasteland and cultivated land; below 2500 m, widely distributed over China excluding Nei Mongolia, Qinghai, Xinjiang and Xizang, further in central and southern Japan and Korea. Naturalized in Europe, North America and Australia.
Flowering from May to July, fruiting from July to September.