Eleuthero has a woody rootstock ­(pictured above), so can’t be considered a seng-producing plant in the traditional Chinese sense. But it has played an ­important role in Traditional Chinese Medicine for at least 2,000 years: its root bark has been used to ­create an herbal drug known as ci-wu-jia, which is used as a general tonic and to relieve lower back pain, among other purposes.