Rehmannia glutinosa: Tissue Culture and Its Potential for Improvement

Abstract

Glutinous rehmannia (Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch., Scrophulariaceae), with the Chinese name Dihuang, is one of the most common and important Chinese medicinal herbs (Fig. 1). It is a perennial herbaceous plant, 10–37 cm in height, covered with long, soft, gray-white, glandular hairs over the whole plant. The plant grows as a rosette before flowering, with leaves 3–10 cm in length and 1.5–4 cm in width. The inflorescence is a raceme, over 40 cm long, flowering in April–May, setting capsular fruits with 300–400 seeds and maturing in May– early June. The plant part for medicinal use is the root tuber (Rhizoma Rehmanniae) (Zhu 1981).