Bitter, sweet, sour, and pungent in flavor; descends qi and promotes digestion; relieves chest fullness and resolves phlegm; can eliminate turbid and foul odors; treats halitosis in drinkers; and addresses anorexia with a bland taste in the mouth during pregnancy.
Sour, astringent, sweet, and warm; generates body fluids; treats seminal emission and watery diarrhea; however, excessive consumption causes fever and obstructs all meridians.
Sour, sweet, and warm; resolves phlegm and stops vomiting; promotes digestion and generates fluids; harmonizes the five zang organs; cleanses the stomach and intestines by eliminating evil qi; when burned to ash and ingested, it is highly effective for treating dysentery; however, excessive consumption causes fever and epistaxis.
Sweet and slightly cool; clears damp-heat and promotes urination; unblocks the chest and diaphragm and brightens the eyes. The root promotes water metabolism, treating strangury (dysuria), cloudy urine, vomiting, and epistaxis.
Bitter, sweet, and slightly cold; invigorates blood and expels stones in calculous strangury; treats various toxins.
Pungent, warm, and aromatic with penetrating properties; dispels all irregular pathogenic factors; induces eruption of smallpox, carbuncles, and sand-rash; relieves headache; unblocks qi in the lower abdomen and opens the heart orifices; promotes grain digestion and intestinal motility. Long-term consumption of Coriandrum sativum (Hu Sui) damages spirit and causes forgetfulness, and induces axillary odor.
Sweet, pungent, and neutral; raw consumption raises qi, while cooked consumption lowers qi; resolves phlegm, promotes digestion, and dissipates stasis; counteracts toxicity from wheat flour products and tofu. The leafy vegetable has a bitter-pungent and warm nature, with similar functions.
Sweet and neutral; expands the middle jiao, descends qi, and disperses stagnation.
Sweet, salty, and cold; softens hardness and dissipates goiter and mass accumulations; treats heat-induced stuffiness and obstruction in the throat.
Sweet, pungent, and cool; harmonizes the middle jiao, resolves phlegm, and benefits the gastrointestinal tract.
Sweet and neutral; dispels wind-heat and brightens the eyes. The flower treats chronic dysentery and repels mosquitoes and moths.
Sweet and neutral; benefits the gastrointestinal tract, eliminates irritability, promotes digestion, descends qi, and harmonizes the spleen and stomach. Huang Ya Cai (Yellow Sprout Vegetable) is particularly beneficial to humans.
Pungent and warm; invigorates blood and dissipates swelling from migratory wind-dan (urticaria-like swellings). The seed has similar functions and treats difficult labor. The oil kills parasites.
Sweet, slightly bitter, and slightly cold; unblocks stagnant qi and benefits the gastrointestinal tract.
Sweet, cold, and slightly salty; clears heat, dissipates goiter, and promotes urination.
Sweet, neutral, and slippery; promotes urination and reduces edema.
Sweet, cold, and lubricating; invigorates blood and relaxes the intestines, but may stir wind and trigger disease, potentially damaging the uterus in women. Eggplant root invigorates blood and reduces swelling.
Sweet, pungent, and cold; when cooked, it thickens the stomach and intestines and stops heat-cough; when ground and taken with water, it detoxifies medicinal poisons.
Pungent, smooth, and slippery; widens appetite and unblocks intestinal obstruction.
This refers to a vegetable name; it treats injuries from falling off horses and all kinds of bone and tendon damage. Some claim it is made from cloth used long-term for cooking, which is incorrect.
Sweet and neutral; breaks blood stasis and treats wind disorders. Song Xun (Pine Mushroom) treats uncontrollable cloudy urine. Tu Jun (Earth Fungus) is sweet and cold; when burned and applied externally, it treats sores and scabies.