What plant is renran? Introducing the renran plant

Renran is a Chinese term, pronounced rěnrǎn, meaning (of time) to gradually pass. It is often used to describe how time easily slips away. Its source is the Han dynasty work · "Lament of a Widow" by Ding Yi's wife: “Time renran does not stay, soon the spirit will depart on the great journey. But did you know renran can be eaten? What plant is renran?

Renran is also called renran cuo. Only “ren” carries the meaning of “white perilla”. The original meaning of renran is: the lush appearance of white perilla. Therefore renran is not a plant. Only ren is a plant.

White perilla is an annual herb. Its ancient name is ren, also called renran. The seeds can be pressed for oil, and together with the old stems can be used in medicine; the leaves can yield aromatic oil. The plant grows about 1 m tall. The stem is square with grooves, much branched, hard and smooth at the base, with white fuzz on the upper part. The leaves are ovate-round, pointed at the tip, with glandular dots on the underside. The stems and leaves are green. The raceme is terminal or lateral. The small nutlet is round, commonly called suzi, yellowish-brown, with a network pattern. It originated in China and is now distributed across the northeastern provinces, as well as Hebei, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Sichuan, Fujian, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places. It is also distributed in Japan, Korea and northern India. After the seeds of wild white perilla scatter, they often grow in batches, forming their own colonies.