Dong quai is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb that is well known for its ability to help strengthen the heart, lung, and liver meridians.  The flavor and aroma is bitter, sweet, and warming like garden angelica, but seems to me less pungent.

This is the first year we’ve grown this herb. It’s currently in pots in the greenhouse, so I don’t know how well it likes our garden conditions.

There are several species of Angelica that grow well here in the Willamette Valley including garden angelica, dong quai, pubescent angelica (du huo), and dahurican angelica (bai zhi).  They are all warming and bitter carminative and digestive aids, and some have additional actions on the lymphatic system and the reproductive system.  Although garden angelica (A. archangelica) is the largest and most mild flavored of them all, it is the only species we grow that is monocarpic.  That is, once it goes to seed, it dies.  The other species are all perennials.