Eleutherococcus nodiflorus (Dunn) S. Y. Hu

This species is a famous medicinal plant.

Shrubs, to 3 m tall, sometimes climbers. Branches slender, forming both long and short shoots, slightly pendulous, glabrous, with few, scattered, reflexed, short prickles at nodes, rarely unarmed. Petiole 3-8 cm, glabrous, with small scattered prickles; petiolules very short; leaflets (3-)5, obovate or oblanceolate, 3-8 × 1-3.5 cm, submembranous to papery, both surfaces glabrous or sparsely setulose, abaxially sometimes pubescent or with brown or ferruginous tufted hairs in axils of veins, secondary veins 4 or 5 pairs, subconspicuous, base cuneate, margin crenate-serrulate, apex acute or shortly acuminate. Inflorescence borne in axils of leaves on short shoots, a solitary umbel or sometimes 2 or 3 umbels together; peduncles 1-4 cm; pedicels 6-10 mm, slender, glabrous. Calyx subentire or with 5 minute teeth. Corolla yellowish green. Ovary 2(or 3)-carpellate; styles free nearly to base, ca. 2 mm, slender. Fruit black at maturity, subglobose, ca. 6 mm in diam.; styles persistent, reflexed, 2-3 mm. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. Jun-Oct.

● Forest margins, scrub fields, mountain slopes, valleys, stream banks, roadsides; below 1000 m in E and 3000 m in W part of range. S Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, S Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang.

Acanthopanax nodiflorus Dunn, J. Bot. 47: 199. 1909; A. gracilistylus W. W. Smith; A. gracilistylus var. major G. Hoo; A. gracilistylus var. nodiflorus (Dunn) H. L. Li; A. gracilistylus var. pubescens (Pampanini) H. L. Li; A. gracilistylus var. tri foliolatus C. B. Shang; A. gracilistylus var. villosulus (Harms) H. L. Li; A. hondae Matsuda; A. spinosus (Linnaeus f.) Miquel var. pubescens Pampanini; A. villosulus Harms; Aralia palmata Loureiro (1790), not Lamack (1783); A. scandens Poiret; Eleutherococcus gracilistylus (W. W. Smith) S. Y. Hu; E. gracili stylus var. major (G. Hoo) H. Ohashi; E. gracilistylus var. nodiflorus (Dunn) H. Ohashi; E. gracilistylus var. pubescens (Pampanini) S. Y. Hu; E. gracilistylus var. trifoliolatus (C. B. Shang) H. Ohashi; E. gracilistylus var. villosulus (Harms) Q. S. Wang; E. nodiflorus (Dunn) S. Y. Hu; E. pubescens (Pampanini) C. H. Kim & B. Y. Sun; E. villosulus (Harms) S. Y. Hu; Hedera scandens (Poiret) Candolle.

Eleutherococcus gracilistylus, also known as Acanthopanax gracilistylus, is deciduous plant with dark blue berries. It is considered a medicinal herb with significant effects. A widely used Chinese plant, it is in the family Araliaceae, and mainly grows at an altitude of around 3000 m. It is also found in Gaoligongshan Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province, China. It is widely distributed in China and has been used as a life-saving medicine against severe cases of paralysis, arthritis and liver disease; several experiments were carried out in 2003.