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Stachys affinis; photograph Chérif-Jacques Allali, CC BY-SA, via GBIF CC BY-SAChérif-Jacques Allali, CC BY-SA, via GBIF

Stachys affinis Bunge

Artichoke betony; Japanese-artichoke; Knotroot; Chinese-artichoke

Lamiaceae · Inner Mongolia, China North-Central +3

No habitat climate
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Stachys affinis, photograph user:takoradee, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia CommonsStachys affinis, photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsStachys affinis, photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsStachys affinis, photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsStachys affinis, photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsStachys affinis, photograph Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 13 photographs ›

Summary

Stachys affinis, commonly called crosne, Chinese artichoke, Japanese artichoke, knotroot, or artichoke betony, is a perennial herbaceous plant of the family Lamiaceae, originating from China. Its rhizome is a root vegetable that can be eaten raw, pickled, dried or cooked.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Stachys affinis", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Stachys

Stachys is a genus of plants, one of the largest in the mint family Lamiaceae. Estimates of the number of species vary from about 300 to about 450. Plants of the World Online accepts 373 species. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Stachys", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Nothing derived: no habitat climate for this species.

Climate across the habitat

No habitat climate can be derived: Only 1 distinct land cell of the climate grid holds an in-range record placed to within 10 km; three are needed for an envelope. 192 of the 193 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or to no stated accuracy and fewer than three decimals or by something other than a person's observation, and cannot place a climate cell, though they count for the map and its marker.

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeInner Mongolia, China North-Central, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Myanmar · introduced: Czechoslovakia, Germany · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker33.22, 107.54 · in the densest population, 126 records (65% of those in range)
Kew's description“tuberous geophyte” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 193 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 80 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 30 km away. 138 records outside the WCVP native range not used. No climate across the range is derived for this species. 192 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 193 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Stachys affinis, photograph 1did not loadStachys affinis, photograph 2did not loadStachys affinis, photograph 3did not loadStachys affinis, photograph 4did not loadStachys affinis, photograph 5did not loadStachys affinis, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: user:takoradee, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons; Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (5).

Other Stachys 48 in the reference

Stachys aethiopica Stachys aethiopica African Stachys Photo: CC BY, ChristinaStachys agraria Stachys agraria Shade betony Photo: CC BY-SA, Claudia RamírezStachys ajugoides Stachys ajugoides Bugle hedge-nettle Photo: CC BY, Lia KeenerStachys albens Stachys albens Whitestem hedgenettle Photo: CC BY, klickloStachys alpina Stachys alpina Limestone Woundwort Photo: CC BY, Katrin SimonStachys annua Stachys annua Annual yellow-woundwort Photo: CC BY, Tatyana SovaStachys arvensis Stachys arvensis Field woundwort Photo: CC BY, Pluto HooperStachys aspera Stachys aspera Hyssopleaf hedgenettle Photo: CC BY, Tatyana PetrenkoStachys balansae Stachys balansae Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Наталья ПикаловаStachys bullata Stachys bullata California hedgenettle Photo: CC0, author not statedStachys byzantina Stachys byzantina Lamb's-ear Photo: CC BY, Bobo-XStachys chamissonis Stachys chamissonis Coastal hedge-nettle Photo: CC BY, Aaron Liston all 49 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Stachys geobombycis var. alba; Stachys sieboldii; Stachys sieboldii var. alba; Stachys sieboldii var. glabrescens; Stachys sieboldii var. malacotricha and 1 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
Bunge
Native to
Inner Mongolia, China North-Central, Qinghai +2
Wild records
193 in range · 80 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 1 record within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (1 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22only 1 distinct land cell of the climate grid holds an in-range record placed to within 10 km; three are needed for an envelope
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 42 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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