Prefers a rich, sandy, slightly acid soil in partial shade. This species is probably not hardy in the colder areas of the country, it tolerates temperatures down to at least -5°c. When grown in a rich soil the roots can be up to 1.2 metres long. Widely cultivated in China, especially in Henan Province, as a medicinal plant and as a food plant.

Seed - cooked. A good substitute for cereal grains in bread-making, they have often been used for this purpose in famine years. Leaves - cooked. Used as a vegetable in the same manner as spinach.

Seed - sow late spring in a greenhouse. Germination should be fairly rapid, prick out the seedlings into individual pots of fairly rich soil when they are large enough to handle. It is probably wise to grow this plant on in the greenhouse for its first winter, planting it out into its permanent position in late spring after the last expected frosts.

Forest edges, the sides of streams and shrubberies. Moist shady places at elevations of 1200 - 3000 metres in Nepal.