Easily grown in any good garden soil. Prefers a rich sandy loam. Plants are hardy to between -10 and -15°c. Dioecious. Male and female plants must be grown if seed is required.

Young shoots - cooked. Used as a vegetable.

Seed - pre-soak for 12 hours in warm water and then sow in spring or as soon as the seed is ripe in early autumn in a greenhouse. It usually germinates in 3 - 6 weeks at 25°c. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in a sunny position in the greenhouse for their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer. Division in early spring as the plant comes into growth.

Loose humus rich soils in forests, 1700 - 2700 metres in the Himalayas. Forests, thickets, shady and moist places along valleys; 1200 - 3000 metres in western China.