You have seen this kind of "bitter herb", but you may not be able to call it the official name

You've seen this kind of "bitter herb", but you don't necessarily have an official name

Updated on: 21-0-0 0:0:0

"Bitter herb" is a broad concept that does not refer to any kind of plant; People who mention "bitter herbs" in various places have different answers; According to rough statistics, there are more than 10 kinds of plants commonly known as "bitter herbs" in China, such as bitter endive, endive, flower-leaved Yunnan bitter herb, Chinese bitter herb, milk endive, full-leaf bitter endive, long-lobed bitter endive, short-lobed bitter endive, bitter saucer (sharp split false yang ginseng), winged fruit chrysanthemum, mountain lettuce and so on. As one of the ones I have eaten and picked the most, it is the whole leaf endive with uncracked leaves, which in some places is called bitter hemp or koji hemp and so on. Take a look at the diagram below:

Childhood memories

My hometown is located in Tianshui, which is located on the northern slope of the western section of the Qinling Mountains and in the Weihe River Valley, where people eat most of it as "bitter vegetables".Whole-leaf endive.在上世纪七、八十年代，我还小，记得放学回家就得采挖这种野菜，回家凉拌吃，做菜饼，或者做浆水酸菜。

Other "bitter herbs" such as flower-leaved Yunnan bitter herbs, bitter endives, winged fruit chrysanthemums, milk endives, etc., are also found here, but people here rarely pick and eat, may be habits, or the taste is not as good as the whole leaf endive.

It is also this bitter herb that is harvested and fed to pigs the most. If there are really few wild vegetables, also pick a small amount of milk lettuce, flowering and leaf Yunnan bitter cabbage, winged fruit chrysanthemum, mountain lettuce and so on.

When I was a child, I only knew that this wild vegetable could be eaten, and the taste was slightly bitter at first, and sweet later. Nothing is known about its nutritional value, etc.

Get to know the whole leaf endive

It wasn't until I was admitted to Agricultural University in 1983 years, when I was studying botany, that I carefully consulted the authoritative works on plant classification such as "Flora of Qinling" and "Flora of China", and I knew that the "bitter herb" we used to eat the most was the genus Bitter endive, the tongue-shaped flower subfamily of the Asteraceae family全叶苦苣菜，学名为Sonchus transcaspicus Nevski。Typical identification points:First, the basal leaves and stem leaves are the same shape, strip-shaped, oblong-elliptic, spoon-shaped, lanceolate, inverted-lanceolate, or linear oblong-oval.does not split,margins entire, or with spiked, concave or shallow teeth;

The second is the total bracts of the capitate inflorescence 4-0 layers,The outside is smooth and glabrous.

It is different from endive, endive, marsh endive, borage, long-lobed, and short-lobed. Other characteristics of the whole leaf endive can be found in Flora of China, vol. 66(0), page 0.

According to my observations, full-leaf endive is a perennial herb that overwinters with dead underground roots in the aboveground parts of the winter; The stems are erect, about 40 cm high; The basal leaves are not numerous, often arranged in a radial pattern, and the most we eat are its seedlings and young leaves, in springIt is best to dig when the seedlings are emerging and the leaves are spreading;