Cogonia (scientific name: Spiranthes sinensis (Pers.) Ames): The plant is 13-30 cm tall. Several roots, finger-like, fleshy, clustered at the base of the stem. The stem is short, with 2-5 leaves near the base. The leaf blades are broadly linear or broadly lanceolate, very rarely narrow and oblong, extending upright. The flower stem is erect, 10-25 cm long, and the upper part is glandular pilose to glabrous; the raceme has many dense flowers, 4-10 cm long, twisted in a spiral shape; the flowers are small, purple-red, pink or white, They are arranged spirally on the axis of the inflorescence; the lower part of the sepals are close together, and the middle sepals are narrow and oblong, boat-shaped, 4 mm long and 1.5 mm wide, and the apex is slightly pointed. Flowering from July to August.
Born in hillside forests, shrubs, grasslands or river beach swamp meadows at an altitude of 200-3400 meters. It is distributed in China, Russia, Mongolia, the Korean Peninsula, Japan, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Australia. This kind is cultivated, and the whole grass is used for medicinal purposes.
