Chicken-Intestine Grass

Chickweed original: 繁縷, fánlǚ; the modern botanical name is Stellaria media is listed in the Supplementary Records of Famous Physicians original: 別錄, Biélù; a pharmaceutical text from the 3rd century as a "lower-grade" herb. In the Erya original: 爾雅; the oldest surviving Chinese dictionary, it is referred to by the names jiān, fù, and huò; the ancient commentary explains that these names all refer to what we now call Chickweed. Some also call it Chicken-Intestine Grass original: 雞腸草, jīcháng cǎo. The Tang Dynasty Herbal followed this tradition without deviation.

Li Shizhen The most famous Ming dynasty pharmacologist (1518–1593), author of the Bencao Gangmu believed this plant was actually Goose-Intestine Grass original: 鵝兒腸, é'ér cháng and not "Chicken-Intestine." Today, it is found in great abundance in extremely damp and shady places.

The Farmer of Yulou The pseudonym of the author, Wu Qijun says: When I first arrived in Dian original: 滇; an ancient name for Yunnan Province, I saw people selling "Goose-Intestine Vegetable" in the market. I found this very strange. I had thought of this plant as it exists in the regions of the Yangtze and Xiang Rivers, where it fills every gap in the masonry and chokes the ditches, its tangled threads and twisting vines so thick that they cannot be cleared away even with constant weeding.

However, when I walked through my own garden in Yunnan, I could not find a single specimen. I ordered the gardeners to plant some in the garden beds, but even then it did not grow very vigorously.

From this, I realized that its nature thrives best in cool and damp conditions; it simply will not grow unless the environment is high and cold. Its flavor is sweet and crisp beyond compare. In the northern regions where the spring remains cold and garden vegetables have yet to sprout, this plant is already lush and spreading; the common folk there call it "Little Grass." In the regions of Bian, Luo, Jin, and Ji The central and northern provinces of Henan, Shanxi, and Hebei, people rely on it to fill their meals. It shares a name with the variety found in the Yangtze and Xiang River regions—which grows in dense clusters like tangled hair and is unfit for eating—but they are actually different species.

[A woodcut botanical illustration of the plant 雞腸草 (Jichangcao), depicting its branching stems and opposite, ovate-shaped leaves.]