Shepherd's Purse jì cài · 荠菜

Capsellae Herba (Capsella bursa-pastoris (L.) Medik.)

Nature and flavour. Sweet, bland, cool. Liver, Spleen and Bladder systems.

A wild edible that doubles as a drug: the young plant is eaten as a vegetable across much of China, while the dried herb is recorded in the materia medica for draining water and dispersing swelling, cooling the blood to stop bleeding, and brightening the eyes. The traditional bleeding indications include blood in the urine and heavy uterine bleeding. That overlap of food and drug is why it is regarded as gentle — and also why the line between a plateful and a medicinal amount is easy to blur.