Kew accepts Podophyllum hexandrum Royle in Berberidaceae; Sinopodophyllum hexandrum is a synonym frequently used in materia-medica and horticultural sources. It is a perennial rhizomatous geophyte, not a woody plant.

Mature plants commonly have branched petioles bearing large umbrella-like, palmately divided, toothed leaves, with a single pale pink or whitish flower near the petiole fork. A berry may follow, but this illustration must not be used to identify a real plant or judge whether fruit is edible. Hong Kong’s regulator identifies the medicinal material as dried root and rhizome. Treat the plant and medicinal parts as hazardous; identity requires reference specimens and appropriate testing, not an image alone.

The name Sinopodophylli Radix et Rhizoma appears in Hong Kong’s Chinese-medicine regulatory record for the dried root and rhizome of this species. Inclusion in a materia-medica system does not make the raw material safe for self-use.

The regulator classifies it as toxic; the cited record is not a recommendation or a self-care indication. Botanical and medicinal-name databases also list multiple synonyms, so descriptions of another Podophyllum or Sinopodophyllum species must not be transferred to this taxon.

The project’s CITES Trade Database 2026.1 extract contains 14 comparative-tabulation rows for Podophyllum hexandrum during 2016–2024 (none in 2022), filtered to purpose T (Commercial), term MED (medicine), Appendix II. The rows report source code A and exporter codes JP or CN; some Japan-exporter rows record China in the Origin field. These are Party-reported data and importer/exporter reports may differ. Fourteen rows are not fourteen shipments, not all international commerce, and cannot be casually summed into total market volume. CITES currently lists the species in Appendix II with annotation #2: most parts and derivatives are covered, except seeds/pollen and finished products packaged ready for retail sale under the annotation’s wording. This is a conservation-trade rule, not evidence of medicinal efficacy.

The linked medical references focus on identity and toxicity.

Hong Kong’s CMRO reports podophyllotoxin and deoxypodophyllotoxin in the medicinal material; inappropriate use or amount may cause poisoning or death. That is a toxicology warning, not an extraction or use instruction. The page does not infer treatment effects from the presence of bioactive compounds.

Primary warning: Hong Kong’s CMRO classifies the dried root/rhizome as toxic and warns that inappropriate use may cause poisoning or death; the RHS says all parts of the plant are highly toxic if ingested and advises gloves and handwashing after handling. Do not taste, chew, decoct, soak, or prepare any part yourself; keep it away from children and pets. If swallowed or symptoms follow exposure, contact local emergency services or a poison center promptly and retain any label/sample for clinicians; do not induce vomiting. CMRO documents confusion with roots of Clematis chinensis

, C. hexapetala, C. manshurica, Gentiana scabra, and G. rigescens; this is a market substitution and identification hazard. AI art cannot rule out a look-alike or authenticate a product.

The references reviewed do not verify a particular herb pair that turns Podophyllum hexandrum into a “poisonous combination,” so no pair, effect, or ratio is assigned. Hong Kong’s CMRO warns of confusion with Clematis and Gentiana

because the roots can look similar. That is an ingredient-substitution warning, not a co-use record. The absence of a confirmed pair does not prove combinations are safe; this plant already carries a serious toxicity warning and is unsuitable for self-use. Medicine interactions, textual incompatibility, poisoning from dose or mistaken identity, and a purported toxic herb pair are distinct claims and must not be conflated.

Use the living-plant artwork only as a study illustration: a low herbaceous plant rises from a creeping rhizome; branched petioles carry large, deeply palmate leaves with radiating veins and toothed edges; a solitary pale pink to whitish flower hangs near the fork. RHS describes flowering in late spring or summer, with leaves expanding after flowering; flower color and leaf division can vary among plants and cultivated forms. The dried material in the regulatory record is root/rhizome

and usually lacks leaves or flowers for identification. Dried roots may be cut and resemble other medicinal roots; CMRO describes DNA-based differentiation in quality-control research. Personal sensory inspection cannot establish that material is safe to ingest.