Adenophora

Description

These plants are perennial herbs, often with thick, fleshy roots. The stem usually grows erect from a caudex. There are usually several basal leaves borne on long petioles. The leaves on the stem are alternately arranged in most species. Flowers are solitary or borne in cymes. The corolla of the flower is bell-shaped, funnel-shaped, or tubular, with five lobes. The corollas of most species are blue. There is a characteristic nectar disc at the base of the stamens.

Diversity

There are about 62 species in the genus.

Species include:

1. Adenophora amurica – Heilongjiang
2. Adenophora brevidiscifera – Sichuan
3. Adenophora capillaris – Chongqing, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan
4. Adenophora changaica – Mongolia
5. Adenophora coelestis – Sichuan, Yunnan
6. Adenophora contracta – Liaoning, Inner Mongolia
7. Adenophora cordifolia – Henan
8. Adenophora divaricata – spreading-branch ladybell – Honshu, Shikoku, Korea, Amur, Primorye, Khabarovsk, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong, Shanxi
9. Adenophora elata – Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi
10. Adenophora erecta – erect ladybell – Ulleungdo Island
11. Adenophora fusifolia – South Korea
12. Adenophora gmelinii – narrow-leaf ladybell – Buryatiya, Chita, Amur, Primorye, Mongolia, Korea, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi
13. Adenophora golubinzevaeana – Krasnoyarsk
14. Adenophora grandiflora – big-flower ladybell – Korea
15. Adenophora hatsushimae – Kyushu
16. Adenophora himalayana – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Tibet, Nepal, northern India, Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan
17. Adenophora hubeiensis – Hubei
18. Adenophora × izuensis – Honshu
19. Adenophora jacutica – Yakutiya
20. Adenophora jasionifolia – Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan
21. Adenophora kayasanensis – Gayasan ladybell – Korea
22. Adenophora khasiana (syn. A. bulleyana) – Assam, Bhutan, Myanmar, Tibet, Sichuan, Yunnan
23. Adenophora koreana – Korean ladybell – Korea
24. Adenophora lamarckii – Lamark's ladybell – Irkutsk, Altai, Kazakhstan, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Korea
25. Adenophora lilifolia – lily-leaf ladybell central and eastern Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Italy, etc.) east to Xinjiang
26. Adenophora liliifolioides – Gansu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Tibet
27. Adenophora lobophylla – Sichuan
28. Adenophora longipedicellata – Chongqing, Guizhou, W Hubei, Sichuan
29. Adenophora maximowicziana – Shikoku
30. Adenophora micrantha – Inner Mongolia
31. Adenophora morrisonensis – Taiwan
32. Adenophora nikoensis – Honshu
33. Adenophora ningxianica – Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia
34. Adenophora palustris – marsh ladybell – Jilin, Korea, Honshu
35. Adenophora pereskiifolia – Manchurian ladybell – Mongolia, Japan, Korea, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Amur, Kuril Islands, Primorye, Khabarovsk, Chita, Buryatiya
36. Adenophora petiolata – Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang
37. Adenophora pinifolia – Liaoning
38. Adenophora polyantha – many-flower ladybell – Korea, Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi
39. Adenophora potaninii – Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan
40. Adenophora probatovae – Primorye
41. Adenophora racemosa – racemose ladybell – Korea
42. Adenophora remotidens – Incheon ladybell – Korea
43. Adenophora remotiflora – scattered ladybell – Primorye, Japan, Korea, Manchuria
44. Adenophora rupestris – Irkutsk
45. Adenophora rupincola – Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan
46. Adenophora sajanensis – Krasnoyarsk
47. Adenophora sinensis – Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi
48. Adenophora stenanthina – Mongolia, Gansu, Hebei, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Altai, Amur, Irkutsk, Chita, Buryatiya, Tuva
49. Adenophora stenophylla – Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Manchuria
50. Adenophora stricta – upright ladybell – Korea, Japan, Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang
51. Adenophora sublata – Primorye, Khabarovsk
52. Adenophora takedae – Honshu
53. Adenophora taquetii – Jejudo ladybell – Korea
54. Adenophora tashiroi – Fukue Island, Jeju-do Island
55. Adenophora taurica – Crimea
56. Adenophora trachelioides – Anhui, Hebei, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Zhejiang
57. Adenophora tricuspidata – Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, much of Asiatic Russia
58. Adenophora triphylla – giant bellflower – Korea, Japan, Ryukyu Islands, Taiwan, Laos, Vietnam, Russian Far East, Siberia
59. Adenophora uryuensis – Hokkaido
60. Adenophora wilsonii – Chongqing, Gansu, Guizhou, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan
61. Adenophora wulingshanica – Beijing
62. Adenophora xifengensis – Gansu

Uses

Many Adenophora species have been used in traditional Chinese medicine.