Jie Geng

Platycodon grandiflorus, commonly known as balloon flower, Chinese bellflower or by its Chinese name Jie Geng, is a perennial herb in the family Campanulaceae native to eastern Asia, including China, Korea, Japan and far-eastern Russia. It is the sole species in its genus. The plant grows from a thick, fleshy, white taproot 30 to 80 cm tall on erect, glabrous, somewhat glaucous stems. The leaves are alternate to subopposite or whorled, ovate to lanceolate, with sharply toothed margins. Its most distinctive feature is the flower bud, which inflates like a small balloon before splitting open to reveal a broadly bell-shaped, upward-facing flower 4 to 7 cm across with five pointed lobes; the colour is typically deep blue-violet, though pink and white forms are common in cultivation. Flowers are borne singly or in few-flowered cymes in mid to late summer. The fleshy root is the part used in traditional East Asian medicine, where it is known as Jie Geng and is also eaten as a vegetable in Korean cuisine under the name doraji.