Are juk-ip choi and water spinach the same vegetable?

Juk-ip choi, also known as Asiatic dayflower or bamboo-node vegetable, grows in shady, damp fields. Its leaves resemble bamboo leaves, and in summer it blooms with moth-shaped flowers. The whole plant is used in medicine and is harvested when in flower. So is juk-ip choi water spinach?

1. Is juk-ip choi water spinach?

Juk-ip choi is water spinach. It is native to southern China and prefers a warm, humid climate. It tolerates heat but not frost, and in the provinces of the Yangtze River basin it can grow from April to October.

2. The nutritional value of water spinach

Water spinach is an alkaline food and contains elements such as potassium and chlorine that help regulate water and fluid balance. After eating it, the acidity of the intestinal tract can be reduced, helping prevent imbalance of the intestinal flora and benefiting cancer prevention. The nicotinic acid, vitamin C and other substances it contains can lower cholesterol and triglycerides, giving it the effect of lowering blood lipids and aiding weight loss. The chlorophyll in water spinach is known as the “green spirit” and can clean the teeth, prevent tooth decay, eliminate bad breath and keep the skin healthy and beautiful.

Water spinach is relatively rich in crude fiber. This dietary fiber is composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, mucilage and pectin, and it helps promote intestinal peristalsis, relieve constipation and remove toxins.

Water spinach is cool in nature, and its juice has an inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus and others, and can help prevent infection. Therefore, if eaten often in summer, it can prevent heatstroke and relieve fever, cool the blood and remove toxins, and help prevent and treat dysentery. The protein content in the tender shoots is 4 times higher than that of an equal amount of tomato, and the calcium content is more than 12 times higher than that of tomato; it also contains relatively high amounts of carotene.

3. The medicinal value of water spinach

Characteristics: The stems and leaves are often tangled into bundles. The stems are flat-cylindrical, shrunken, with longitudinal grooves and nodes; the surface is pale greenish-yellow to light brown, with branches sometimes present at the nodes, where the color is darker. Near the lower nodes there are often a few small light brown rootlets; the texture is tough and not easy to break, and the cross-section is hollow. The leaves are shrunken and grayish-green, and when flattened are ovate, triangular or lanceolate; they have long petioles. The odor is slight and the taste is bland. Those with thick, large stems and leaves and a grayish-green color are considered the best.

Nature and taste: sweet; cold

Meridian entry: intestine; stomach meridians

Functions and indications: cools the blood and stops bleeding; clears heat and drains dampness. Mainly used for nosebleeds; constipation; strangury with turbid urine; bloody stools; blood in the urine; hemorrhoids; carbuncles and swellings; fractures; snake and insect bites

Usage and dosage: Internal use: decocted in water, 60-120 g; or pounded for juice. External use: washed with the decoction or applied as a poultice.

Water spinach is distributed throughout tropical Asia, Africa and Oceania. Besides being eaten as a vegetable, it can also be used medicinally: taken internally it relieves food poisoning, and applied externally it treats fractures, ascites and unnamed swellings and toxins. Juk-ip choi is also a fairly good feed.