Plants 30–80 cm high. Rootstock to 2 cm thick. Basal leaves numerous; petioles flattened, with ovate sheaths. Scrub, hillsides, grasslands, stony slopes;  Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi. Korea, Mongolia, Russia.
The dry root of Saposhnikovia divaricata (Turcz.) Schischk., Siler, a perennial herb of the carrot family, is also known as Fang Feng in traditional Chinese herbal medicine. It is a herbal ingredient included in many polyherb formulae. This study investigated the in vitro anti-proliferative, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of the SD extract.
Fourteen compounds were isolated from the ethanol extraction. They were identified as fangfengalpyrimidine, clemiscosin A, 5-hydroxy-8-methoxypsoralen, sec-O-glucosylhamaudol, hamaudol, nodakenetin, prim-O-glucosylcimifugin, cimifugin, 4'-O-beta-D-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisamminol, 5-O-methylvisamminol, marmesin, adenosine, daucosterol and beta-sitosterol.