形态描述

多年生草本，高达70cm。根粗壮，分枝黑褐色。下部茎生叶为二回三出复叶，上部为三出复叶；小叶狭卵形、椭圆形，长1.5-16cm，宽1.5-4.8cm，边缘具白色骨质细齿。花数朵顶生或腋生，有时仅顶端一朵开放，直径5.5-11.5cm；苞片4-5，披针形，大小不等；萼片3-4，宽卵形或近圆形，长1-1.5cm，宽1-1.7cm；花瓣9-13，倒卵形，长3.5-6cm，宽1.5-4.5cm，白色或粉红色，有时基部具深紫色斑块；花丝长0.7-1.2cm，黄色；花盘浅杯状，包裹心皮基部，顶端裂片钝圆；心皮2-5，无毛。蓇葖果卵圆状圆锥形，长2.5-3cm，顶端具喙。花期5-6月，果期8月。

分布地区

系栽培种，见于西湖景区（花港观鱼）。分布于甘肃、河北、内蒙古、宁夏、陕西、山西及东北地区，朝鲜半岛、日本、蒙古、俄罗斯也有。

主要用途

著名观赏花卉；根药用，称“白芍”。

中国植物志英文版

Herbs perennial, to 70 cm tall. Roots thick, attenuate toward tip, to 1.3 cm in diam. Stems glabrous. Proximal leaves 2-ternate; all leaflets decurrent at base, terminal ones often 2- or 3-segmented; leaflets and segments up to 15, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 4.5--16 × 1.5--4.8 cm, sparsely pubescent abaxially, bristly along veins adaxially, margin white cartilaginous denticulate, apex acuminate. Flowers usually several per shoot, both terminal and axillary, sometimes only terminal one developed, single (in wild plants) or double (in cultivated plants), 8--13 cm wide. Bracts 4 or 5, lanceolate, unequal. Sepals 3 or 4, broadly ovate or suborbicular, 1--1.5 × 1--1.7 cm. Petals 9--13, white or pink (in wild plants), or varying in color (in cultivated plants), obovate, 3.5--6 × 1.5--4.5 cm. Filaments yellow, 0.7--1.2 cm; anthers yellow. Disc yellow, annular. Carpels 2--5, green or purple, glabrous or rarely tomentose. Follicles oblong-ellipsoid, 2.5--3 × 1.2--1.5 cm. Fl. May--Jun, fr. Aug. 2n = 10. Woods, grasslands; 400--2300 m. S Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, S Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi [Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia (Far East, Siberia)]. This species is widely cultivated as an ornamental and for medicinal use.----from “Flora of China”