Jiaogulan grows avidly in the wild, is cultivated, and occurs naturalized in dry regions of the United States.

[1] The plant was first described in 1406 CE by Zhu Xiao, who presented a description and sketch in the book Materia Medica for Famine as a survival food rather than a herb.

[2] However, G. pentaphyllum has a wide distribution outside of China, ranging from India and Bangladesh to Southeast Asia to Japan and Korea as well as to New Guinea.

[3] In China, it grows in forests, thickets, and roadsides on mountain slopes at elevations of 300–3,200 m (980–10,500 ft) above sea level.

[1] It has not seen widespread use in traditional Chinese medicine, being adopted only in the past 20 years,[1] and grows mainly in Guizhou province.

[5] Some limited research has assessed the potential for jiaogulan to affect such disorders as cardiovascular diseases, hyperlipidemia, or type 2 diabetes,[6] but these studies were too preliminary to allow any conclusion that it was beneficial.