Xian He Cao

Agrimonia pilosa, hairy agrimony, is a perennial herb of the family Rosaceae widely distributed across East Asia, the Russian Far East, and central Europe, in meadows, forest margins, roadsides, and grassy slopes. It grows 30 to 100 cm tall from a short woody rhizome, with erect, ribbed stems clothed in spreading and appressed hairs. The interruptedly pinnate leaves bear 3 to 9 larger leaflets with smaller leaflets interposed; all leaflets are coarsely serrate and softly hairy beneath, with glandular dots. Small bright yellow five-petalled flowers are borne in slender, elongated terminal racemes in summer, each subtended by tiny bracts; the cup-shaped hypanthium develops hooked bristles at maturity, forming bur-like fruits that cling to fur and clothing. The entire aerial herb is harvested in flower for medicinal use.