Han Fang Ji

Stephania tetrandra is a perennial climbing vine of the Menispermaceae family native to southern China and Taiwan. It produces slender twining stems that scramble over neighboring vegetation, bearing alternate, peltate leaves with broadly rounded to triangular blades and long petioles attached near the center of the leaf. Small, inconspicuous greenish-yellow unisexual flowers are borne in axillary cymes, followed by small drupes that turn red at maturity. The plant develops thick, fleshy tuberous roots which are the principal medicinal organ; these are dug in autumn, sliced transversely, and dried. The transverse section shows characteristic radiating vascular bundles within a pale, starchy parenchyma, a feature used to distinguish it from related Menispermaceous and Aristolochiaceous species.