Pei Lan

Eupatorium fortunei is an aromatic perennial herb in the Asteraceae family, native to eastern Asia including China, Japan, and Korea. The plant grows 40-100 cm tall from a creeping rhizome, with erect, often purple-tinged stems that are simple or branched in the upper portion. The opposite leaves are lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 5-12 cm long, with serrate margins and a distinctive sweet, vanilla-like fragrance when crushed; upper leaves are often three-lobed. Small purplish-pink tubular flowers are clustered in dense corymbose heads at the stem tips, blooming in late summer and autumn. In TCM, the aerial parts (Pei Lan) are used as a fragrant, drying herb that transforms dampness, particularly for damp-heat in the middle burner with sticky taste in the mouth.