What Is Perilla? A Detailed Guide to Its Benefits, Effects, and Growing Methods

Perilla, also known as guiren, white perilla, red perilla, etc., is an annual herbaceous plant with round or ovate leaves, leaf length 3-9.5cm, leaf width 2-8cm, and coarse serrations along the leaf margins. It often blooms in July-August and fruits in September-October. It likes to grow in a warm and humid climate, and grows vigorously with relatively high yields in environments with ample sunlight. This plant is easy to keep alive and is widely cultivated in all provinces of northern and southern China, as well as widely cultivated overseas in India, Japan, Korea, and the Indochinese Peninsula. China has about 2,000 years of history in cultivating perilla. As society continues to change, perilla's uses have become increasingly widespread. In our daily lives, we also often use perilla leaves to make various foods, spices, oils, medicines, and more.

[Benefits and Effects of Perilla]

In recent years, because perilla contains many unique active substances and nutrients that are highly beneficial to the human body, it has become a multipurpose plant of worldwide interest with extremely high economic value. In daily life, people also often use perilla's tender leaves to steep in water, cook in soups, or pickle for eating, and they are delicious and fragrant.

Perilla's leaves, stems, and fruits can all be used to make medicine, and perilla's medicinal value is extremely high. Perilla leaf can dispel exterior cold and has a relatively strong diaphoretic effect. It is used for wind-cold exterior patterns with symptoms such as aversion to cold, fever, and absence of sweating, and is often used together with ginger; if the exterior pattern is accompanied by qi stagnation, it can also be used together with cyperus rotundus and dried tangerine peel. For moving qi and easing the middle, perilla leaf is used for spleen-stomach qi stagnation, chest tightness, and nausea.

The entire perilla plant can also be used to distill perilla oil, and its seeds can also be used to make perilla seed oil. The α2 linolenic acid in perilla seed oil is one of the essential fatty acids for the human body. It has effects in lowering blood lipids, lowering blood pressure, inhibiting platelet aggregation, and reducing thrombosis. It can effectively prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases and prevent heart disease and senile dementia. Eating more perilla seed oil has a clear therapeutic effect on coronary heart disease and high blood lipids.

[Growing Perilla]

Perilla has strong adaptability and is not strict about soil requirements. It grows well in well-drained sandy loam, loam, and clay loam, and when cultivated in fertile soil in front of and behind houses and along ditches and field edges. The previous crop is best as vegetables. It can also be planted under young fruit tree groves.

Perilla is propagated by seed, divided into direct sowing and seedling raising and transplanting.

Direct sowing

For spring sowing, the sowing time differs by one month between the south and the north: March in the south and mid-to-late April in the north. For direct sowing, drill sowing is carried out in the bed, opening furrows at a row spacing of 60 cm and a depth of 2-3 cm, evenly scattering the seeds into the furrows, and covering with a thin layer of soil after sowing. Hole sowing: row spacing 45 cm, plant spacing 25-30 cm for hole sowing, with shallow soil covering. Water immediately after sowing to keep moist. The sowing rate is 15-18.75 kg per hectare. Direct sowing saves labor, grows quickly, allows early harvesting, and gives high yields.

Seedling raising

This method is used when seeds are insufficient, water conditions are poor, or in arid areas. The seedbed should be chosen in a place with sufficient light and warmth, applied with farmyard manure, and added with an appropriate amount of superphosphate or plant ash. In early April, water the bed thoroughly, sow after the water has seeped down, cover with 2-3 cm of shallow soil, keep the bed surface moist, and seedlings will emerge in about a week. After the seedlings are uniform, thin out the overly dense seedlings, water and weed frequently. When the seedlings are 3-4 cm tall and have grown 4 pairs of leaves, after the wheat harvest choose a cloudy day or evening and plant them in the wheat field. On the day before planting, water the seedling bed thoroughly.

When transplanting, plants with complete roots are easy to keep alive, so plant them as they are pulled. Plant spacing 30 cm, open furrows 15 cm deep, arrange the seedlings well, cover with soil, water or apply diluted human and livestock manure and urine, and after 1-2 days loosen the soil to preserve moisture. Plant about 150,000 seedlings per hectare. In dry weather, water once every 2-3 days, then reduce watering and carry out seedling hardening to promote root growth.

[Land Selection and Land Preparation]

Loosening the soil

Before the plants grow and close the rows, weed frequently. In direct-sown areas, pay attention to thinning and weeding. In drill-sown land, when the seedlings are 15 cm tall, thin to a final stand at 30 cm, and use the excess seedlings for transplanting. Plants in direct-sown land grow quickly. If the density is high, it causes excessive vegetative growth, with no branching or very little branching. Although the plant height can be reached, there are fewer leaves on the lower part of the plant, and they fall off due to poor light penetration and air circulation, affecting leaf yield and perilla oil yield. At the same time, many stems and few leaves also affect the specification of the whole herb, so do not thin too early. In seedling-raising fields, loosen the soil and weed 2 times from planting to row closure.

Temperature

Requirements for environmental conditions: perilla likes a warm and humid climate. Seeds can germinate when the soil temperature is above 5°C, and the suitable germination temperature is 18-23°C. The seedling stage can tolerate low temperatures of 1-2°C. The plant grows slowly at lower temperatures. It grows vigorously in summer. The suitable temperature during the flowering period is 22-28°C, with a relative humidity of 75%-80%. It is relatively moisture-tolerant and has strong waterlogging tolerance, but is not drought-tolerant, especially during the formation period of the product organs. If the air is too dry, the stems and leaves become coarse and hard, with more fiber and poor quality. It has broad adaptability to soil and can also grow in relatively shaded places.

Topdressing

Perilla's growing time is relatively short, and the whole herb can be harvested 2 and a half months after planting. Since the whole herb is used as medicine, nitrogen fertilizer is the main type. Apply fertilizer in a concentrated way before row closure.

For direct-sown and seedling-raised land, apply topdressing when the seedlings are 30 cm tall. Open furrows between the rows and apply 15,000-22,500 kg of human manure and urine per hectare or 112.5 kg of ammonium sulfate and 150 kg of superphosphate, then loosen the soil and earth up to bury the fertilizer well. Apply fertilizer a second time before row closure, using the same method as above. However, be careful not to touch the leaves when applying fertilizer this time.

Irrigation

After sowing or transplanting, if it does not rain for several days, water promptly. During the rainy season, pay attention to drainage, clear the working paths, and prevent water accumulation from causing root rot and leaf loss.

Harvesting and processing

When harvesting perilla, choose a sunny day to cut it, as the aroma is stronger and it is convenient for drying. To harvest perilla leaves for medicinal use, it should be done from late July to early August, before perilla blooms.

Perilla stems: harvest in early September before flowering, when the inflorescence has just grown. Cut from the root with a sickle, hang the plant upside down in a ventilated, shaded place to dry, and after drying, beat off the leaves for medicinal use.

Perilla seeds: harvest from late September to mid-October when the seeds and fruits are ripe. Cut off the fruit spikes or the whole plant, tie into small bundles, sun-dry for several days, then thresh out the seeds and sun-dry them. Yield is 1,125-1,500 kg per hectare.

While collecting seeds, also pay attention to selecting and keeping good seed. Choose robust plants with high yields, wait until the seeds are fully mature before harvesting, sun-dry and thresh, and use as seed.