🌿 Folk Prescriptions

Every year in April and May, wild vegetables are in season. Urban dwellers tired of rich meat dishes can benefit greatly from eating more wild vegetables during this time.
China has long held the concept of “food and medicine sharing the same origin,” which is particularly evident in wild vegetables. They contain various bioactive compounds. Polysaccharides enhance immune function and help prevent infectious diseases and tumors; flavonoids inhibit free radical damage to cells; saponins significantly improve cardiovascular function. The following 10 wild vegetables are common and available in markets, but do you know their medicinal values?
Portulaca Can Treat Diabetes
Portulaca, also known as purslane or longevity vegetable, is generally reddish-brown with thick leaves shaped like inverted ovals—named for its resemblance to horse teeth. It contains proteins, fats, thiamine, riboflavin, ascorbic acid, and other nutrients. Due to its high content of organic acids, it tastes slightly sour when eaten.
The medicinal effects of portulaca include clearing heat and detoxifying, cooling blood, and stopping bleeding. It contains abundant norepinephrine, which promotes insulin secretion from pancreatic islets, regulates sugar metabolism, lowers blood glucose levels, and maintains stable blood sugar—thus offering some therapeutic effect for diabetes. Additionally, it contains an unsaturated fatty acid called 3-W, which inhibits cholesterol and triglyceride production, protecting the heart and blood vessels. It can be prepared in many ways: blanching before stir-frying, cold mixing, or stuffing. Examples include stir-fried portulaca with eggs, steamed portulaca buns, or boiled portulaca garlic porridge for clearing heat and relieving dysentery.
Eating Dandelion Is Good for the Liver
Dandelion, also known as taraxacum, is commonly seen in the wild. Its pollen contains vitamins and linoleic acid; its leaves contain choline, amino acids, and trace elements.
The main functions of dandelion are clearing heat and detoxifying, reducing swelling, and promoting urination. It has broad-spectrum antibacterial properties, stimulates immune function, and supports liver health through bile stimulation. It can be eaten raw after blanching, stir-fried, or made into soup. Examples include mixed jellyfish with dandelion, dandelion stir-fried with meat strips; it can also be combined with green tea, licorice, and honey to make a dandelion green tea that clears heat and reduces swelling.
Bitter Cress Can Inhibit Leukemia
Bitter cress, scientifically known as Sonchus oleraceus or sow thistle, has yellowish-white stems; leaves are lanceolate with green upper surfaces and gray-green undersides; flowers are bright yellow and ligulate. Dried bitter cress contains abundant potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, and other elements.
Bitter cress clears heat and dries dampness, reduces swelling and discharges pus, resolves stasis and detoxifies, cools blood, and stops bleeding. Concentrated ethanol extract from boiled bitter cress shows inhibitory effects on acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute and chronic granulocytic leukemia. Common preparations include garlic-mixed bitter cress, soy sauce-mixed bitter cress, and bitter cress stir-fried with pork liver.
Fiddlehead Fern Has Sedative Effects
Fiddlehead fern, also known as fiddlehead or dragon head vegetable, is common among wild greens. When the fronds are curled, they are tender; when mature, they unfurl.
Eating fiddlehead fern helps clear heat, lubricate intestines, relieve qi stagnation and phlegm, promote urination, and calm the spirit. Dry or salt-preserved fiddlehead fern should be soaked in water before eating to restore texture. Common dishes include stir-fried fiddlehead fern with pork strips, fiddlehead fern braised pork, and cold-mixed fiddlehead fern.
Platycodon Can Prevent Ulcers
Platycodon, also known as Ming Ye Cai or Monk’s Hat, is called "Dolagi" by Koreans. Its branches bear small blue flowers. We usually consume the root, which has effects such as expectorant, cough relief, analgesia, antipyretic, sedation, lowering blood sugar, anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcer, anti-tumor, and antibacterial actions.
Consume Chrysanthemum to Strengthen Spleen and Supplement Deficiency
Chrysanthemum blooms from April to June, often seen scattered along fields and roadsides. Its main therapeutic effects are cooling blood and stopping bleeding, strengthening spleen and supplementing deficiency, clearing heat and promoting diuresis. In spring, pick young shoots or overwintering buds of chrysanthemum, blanch, then eat raw, dip in sauce, make soup, stuff, or stir-fry. It can also be boiled into delicious chrysanthemum congee.
Eat Amaranth More in Hot Weather
Amaranth roots are typically purple or light purple; stems have few branches, with green or light purple stripes; leaves are ovate.
We usually eat tender amaranth stems and leaves, which have effects of clearing heat, promoting urination, detoxification, nourishing yin, and moistening dryness. Besides stir-frying and cold mixing, amaranth is often used as filling. Examples include cold-mixed amaranth, amaranth chicken shreds, and amaranth dumplings.
Water Celery Lowers Blood Pressure
Water celery, also known as water parsley or river celery, has hollow stems, triangular leaves, white flowers, and grows mainly in moist areas such as pond edges, riverbanks, and paddy fields.
Water celery clears heat and detoxifies, moistens lungs, strengthens spleen and stomach, aids digestion, promotes urination, stops bleeding, lowers blood pressure, protects against hepatitis, prevents arrhythmias, and has antibacterial effects. Common dishes include pork stir-fried with water celery, water celery and lamb dumplings, and water celery mixed with peanuts.
Stinging Tree Bud Tonifies Kidneys and Nourishes Essence
Stinging tree bud, also known as stinging dragon bud or Liaodong Acanthopanax, primarily grows in shrublands and forest clearings. Unlike most wild vegetables, it is a woody plant. Its bark is gray with large, hard spines; flowers are pale yellowish-white; fruits are spherical black berries.
The edible part is the tender buds, which can tonify qi, invigorate blood, dispel wind, remove dampness, relieve pain, and nourish kidneys and essence.
Small Garlic Onion Prevents Arteriosclerosis
Small garlic onion, also known as Xie Bai or small root vegetable, resembles garlic in stem and leaf appearance and has garlic-like and onion-like flavors. It promotes yang, transforms qi, opens the chest, disperses nodules, moves qi, relieves stagnation, treats dysentery, and inhibits elevated peroxidized lipids in hyperlipidemic patients, preventing arteriosclerosis. Main preparations include small garlic onion mixed with tofu or boiled into small garlic onion and white fungus porridge.