Region: East Asia, southeastern China, central and southern Japan.
Habitat: low mountains, rocks on grassy slopes and plains; moderately cold-hardy plant; prefers moist, but well-drained, fairly fertile soil in a sunny position; very drought tolerant; succeeds on a wall.
Content: alkaloids, sedine, sedamine.
Ecology: often specially targeted by slugs; immune to the predations of rabbits.
Use: food, bitter, more or less edible leaves and young blooming stems; medicine; widely grown in China and Japan for green roof systems; ornamental, in walls.
BotanyHerb; evergreen; perennial.
Stems: both sterile and blooming stems.
Inflorescence: erect, blooming stems are 10 to 25 cm tall.
Pollination: by insects.