Mongolian milkvetch

Astragalus mongholicus — Mongolian milkvetch or astragalus — is a perennial herb in the legume family (Fabaceae), genus Astragalus. It grows 30–80 cm tall with upright or slightly spreading, branching stems covered in fine white hairs. The odd-pinnate leaves are 5–10 cm long with 12–27 ovate to elliptic leaflets 5–10 mm long, hairy beneath. The flowers are borne in axillary racemes 2.5–5 cm long, 5–15 per raceme; the corolla is pale yellow (sometimes white or pale violet), 1.5–2 cm long, with a hairy bell-shaped calyx. The fruit is an ovoid to spindle-shaped pod 1–1.5 cm long, covered with hairs and containing a few brown seeds. The medicinal part is the straight taproot, 30–90 cm long, with a brownish-yellow outer bark and a pale-yellow to light-brown, spirally veined cross-section — known in Chinese medicine as 'huangqi' (北芪). It flowers May–July and fruits July–September. The species was formerly usually called Astragalus membranaceus.

Updated by lebachungtdh@gmail.com · 10/12/2026

Astragalus mongholicus is native to the temperate regions of Asia: Mongolia, northern and northeastern China (Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Hebei, Gansu and others), Siberia and Central Asia. The roots are harvested in autumn when the plants are 3–5 years old, then dried or stir-fried with honey ('honey-fried huangqi'). In traditional Chinese medicine astragalus is sweet and slightly warm, entering the spleen and lung meridians: it tonifies qi and raises the yang, stabilises the exterior and stops sweating, expels toxins and promotes tissue healing, and acts as a diuretic; it is used for fatigue, poor appetite, diarrhoea, prolapse of the rectum, stomach or uterus, spontaneous sweating, oedema, shortness of breath, diabetes and slow-healing ulcers, at 9–30 g per day. Modern research shows the root contains polysaccharides (astragalan), triterpene saponins (astragalosides I–VIII, cycloastragenol), isoflavones (calycosin, formononetin, kumatakenin) and trace elements, with immunostimulant, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardio-, hepato- and nephroprotective, anti-ageing and antiviral activity. Note: several other Astragalus species contain alkaloids that poison livestock, but these toxins are not found in A. mongholicus; it should not be used in yin-deficiency with hyperactivity of fire or in acute febrile illness.

Updated by lebachungtdh@gmail.com · 10/12/2026