Nao Yang Hua

Rhododendron molle (Blume) G.Don (Ericaceae), the Chinese yellow azalea, is a deciduous shrub 0.5-2 m tall, native to central and southern China and historically described from Japan. Young branchlets bear soft grey hairs. Leaves are alternate, oblong-elliptic to oblanceolate, 5-11 cm long, with bristle-fringed margins and pubescence on both surfaces. The conspicuous flowers appear in terminal clusters of 5-13 with or before the new leaves; the corolla is broadly funnel-shaped, 5-6 cm across, bright golden-yellow often with an orange or greenish blotch on the upper lobe, with five subequal lobes and ten exserted stamens. The fruit is an oblong capsule covered with stiff hairs. The dried flowers (Flos Rhododendri Mollis), called Nao Yang Hua or Yang Zhi Zhu, are highly toxic owing to grayanotoxins and were used in TCM to dispel wind, kill parasites, alleviate pain, and as a topical anaesthetic; the entire plant is poisonous to livestock, hence the name "sheep-stupefying flower."