Coluria

a genus of plants of the rose family Rosaceae. They are perennial, low, pubescent herbs with a creeping rootstock. The radical leaves are petiolate and interruptedly cleft; the stem leaves are sessile and small. The flowers, which are yellow, are solitary or in inflorescences. The fruit is a multiple nut. There are between five and seven species, distributed in Southern Siberia, Eastern Kazakhstan, Northern Mongolia, and China. In the USSR there is one species, Coluria geoides. It measures up to 30 cm tall and has flowers, which are mostly solitary and approximately 2 cm in diameter. C.geoides is found in the Altai, Eastern Kazakhstan, the southern part of Krasnoiarsk Krai, and Tuva. It grows on the steppes, on rocky and gravelly slopes. Its rhizomes and roots contain an essential oil, which is used by the local population as a substitute for tea and for aromatizing tobacco. The oil contains 93–95 percent eugenol.