Is Qingming vegetable the same as mugwort leaf? The differences explained clearly at once

Qingming vegetable is not mugwort leaf. Qingming vegetable is a wild vegetable and also a medicinal food ingredient, while mugwort is a Chinese herbal medicine and is not eaten as a food ingredient.

I. What is Qingming vegetable?

1. Qingming vegetable is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant of the Asteraceae family, genus Gnaphalium, with a plant height of about 10-50cm, an upright stem with many branches, and the branches bear white cottony hairs and oblanceolate or spatulate leaves, with pointed tips and narrow bases; the flowers are spherical-bell-shaped, with 3 layers of golden-yellow bracts in total, and the fruit is oblong; it generally flowers from April to June and fruits from August to September.

2. Qingming vegetable is a wild vegetable with high nutritional value, containing rich carotene, vitamins, volatile oils, etc. It has antibacterial, blood pressure-lowering, and analgesic effects. Regular consumption can clear heat and detoxify, lower blood pressure, and relieve cough. Generally, patients with cough, cold, favism, or abnormal vaginal discharge can eat it.

3. Qingming vegetable is a wild vegetable that grows everywhere during the Qingming period. Generally, in April each year, many people pick some to take home to make Qingming baba or cook soup, etc. It tastes very good and can have a certain therapeutic effect.

II. What is mugwort leaf?

1. Mugwort leaf is a plant of the Asteraceae family, genus Artemisia, a perennial herb or slightly semi-shrubby, and the plant has a strong aroma. The main root is obvious, slightly thick and long, up to 1.5 cm in diameter, with many lateral roots. The stem is single or few, 80-150 (-250) cm tall. The leaves are thickly papery, covered with grayish-white short soft hairs on the upper side, and have white glandular dots and small concave dots. The capitulum is elliptical, 2.5-3 (-3.5) mm in diameter, sessile or nearly sessile. The achene is long-ovoid or oblong. The flowering and fruiting period is July-October.

2. It is distributed in Mongolia, Korea, Russia (Far East region) and China; it is widely distributed and is found almost throughout China except in extremely arid and alpine regions. It is cultivated in Japan. It grows in wastelands, roadsides, riversides, and mountain slopes from low altitude to medium altitude, and is also seen in forest steppes and steppe areas, and in some areas it is the dominant species of the plant community.

3. The whole plant is used as medicine, and has effects such as warming the meridians, removing dampness, dispersing cold, stopping bleeding, reducing inflammation, relieving asthma, relieving cough, preventing miscarriage, and anti-allergy. Mugwort leaf is dried and pounded to obtain “moxa wool”, which is made into moxa sticks for moxibustion and can also be used as a raw material for “ink paste”. In addition, the whole plant is used as an insecticidal pesticide or burned as smoke for room disinfection and insecticide. The tender buds and young seedlings are used as vegetables. Dried and crushed mugwort is mugwort powder, which is a high-quality feed additive for livestock and poultry. It can also be used as a natural plant dye.

Although Qingming vegetable and mugwort leaf look similar and both can be used as medicine, their effects are somewhat different, so everyone should pay attention to distinguishing them.