Illustrated Investigation of the Names and Realities of Plants, Volume 4

Fish Mint

Fish Mint Jicai (蕺菜): Houttuynia cordata is categorized as a "lower grade" herb in the Collected Records of Famous Physicians original: "Bielu" (別錄). It is also known as Fish-Smelling Grass Yuxingcao (魚腥草). Its flowers resemble the crabapple but are white in color; from the center, a long, thread-like spike protrudes.

If one covers fish with its leaves, the fish will not spoil quickly. In Hunan, people boil the plant to make a drink during the summer to relieve heat stroke. According to the Erya The oldest surviving Chinese dictionary, dating back to the 3rd century BCE, it is referred to simply as Ji.

In his commentary, Guo Pu A famous scholar of the Jin Dynasty notes: "The herb resembles the Winter Cherry Suanjiang (酸漿); its flowers are small and white with a yellow center." In the Jiangdong region, it is used to make pickles Zu (葅). The Comprehensive Treatises original: "Tongzhi" (通志) considers this to be the same plant as the Ji.

The pronunciation of the characters Ji 蕺 and Zhi 職 are similar, and their appearances are also comparable. According to the Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue, the King of Yue once tasted feces An act of strategic humiliation to prove loyalty to his captor, which caused him to suffer from chronic bad breath. Fan Li The King's legendary advisor ordered the attendants to eat Cen Grass to mask the King's odor. A note clarifies that Cen Grass is actually Fish Mint.

In years of famine, starving people dig up its roots for food. The Essential Arts for the Common People original: "Qimin Yaoshu" (齊民要術), a 6th-century agricultural manual describes a method for pickling Fish Mint. Today, however, it is no longer commonly eaten, and it is rarely used in formal medical prescriptions. It is primarily cultivated by local folk doctors in the Jiangxi and Hunan regions as an essential medicine for external surgeries Typically used for treating boils, abscesses, or skin inflammations.

The Gazetteer of Zunyi Prefecture notes that Side-Ear Root Ceergen (側耳根) is the same as Fish Mint; in years of crop failure, the people dig up and eat the roots. According to the Materia Medica, its flavor is pungent. However, the Gazetteer of Shanyin County states that its flavor is bitter and warns that it "harms the Yang energy and depletes the marrow," suggesting it should only be used as a last resort to ward off death by starvation literally: "slow the arrival of the ditches and valleys," a metaphor for death by the roadside during famine.