Yu zhu

Polygonatum odoratum, commonly known as Solomon's seal, fragrant Solomon's seal or by its Chinese name Yu Zhu, is a rhizomatous perennial herb in the family Asparagaceae (formerly Liliaceae) native to temperate Eurasia, including Europe, the Caucasus, Siberia, China, Korea and Japan. It grows from a stout, knotty, white, horizontal rhizome that bears characteristic round scars left by previous years' flowering stems, the visual resemblance of which to a wax seal gives the plant its common name. The arching, unbranched stem rises 30 to 80 cm tall and bears alternate, ovate to elliptic, prominently parallel-veined leaves that are arranged in two ranks along its upper side. From the leaf axils hang one to two (rarely three) pendulous, narrowly tubular, white to greenish-white, sweetly fragrant flowers in late spring. The fruit is a small bluish-black berry. The rhizome of this and closely related species is dried and used in traditional Chinese medicine as the herb Yu Zhu.