A few days ago, a famous talented woman asked me, "What's the name of the hawthorn that everyone likes to eat?" ? Don't ask anyone to know. "

She asked about a wild vegetable. This kind of wild vegetable is very common, and locals often eat it, but few people know its scientific name. As a result, some local "literati" sit in the well and watch the sky. They invented names such as "Hawthorn", "Hawthorn Tree" and "Hawthorn Tree" according to dialect pronunciation. There are even a few merchants who are mystifying, claiming in sales advertisements that "Hawthorn has extremely high requirements for living environment and conditions, only grows on mountains, embraces the aura of heaven and earth, absorbs the essence of mountains and rivers, enjoys the grace of sunshine and the nourishment of rain and dew, and can be called a' lady of the deep palace'" and "only grows in the hilly area of Shandong Peninsula, even in the Korean Peninsula at the same latitude."

"Mu", pronounced Mi in the old saying, originally meant that the eyes are not straight. "Alfalfa" is now pronounced as mü, which is only used for the word "alfalfa". Alfalfa is a perennial herb with compound leaves consisting of three rectangular leaflets, irises and pods, which is an important forage. The word "alfalfa" is a conjunction in simple words, which consists of two words: "alfalfa" and "alfalfa", each of which cannot express its meaning independently. Therefore, the word "alfalfa" cannot be used to name other things alone.

"Yao" is an affix, which can only be used in words such as "so", "so", "how" and "how", and you can't name things separately. When "hawthorn" is pronounced as zhā, it refers to hawthorn (hawthorn) and is also used for hawthorn (papaya). There is no other meaning. The word "hawthorn" is not used to name other plants, let alone herbs.

So, what is the name of this wild vegetable? It is a perennial herb of Dianthus genus, known as "Cao Xia" (Latin name: gypsophila oldhamiana miq). ) in the herbarium of Shandong Agricultural University. The catalogue of cultivated plants in Zhongshan Botanical Garden is also called Cao Xia. The Supplement to Atlas of Chinese Higher Plants and Flora of China call it "Feldspar Oak"; The Herbaceous Flora of Northeast China calls it "Dianthus longistamens". But whatever it is called, its Latin name is the same.

It is introduced in Flora of China as follows: "Perennial herb, 60- 100 cm high. The roots are stout, lignified, light brown to gray, and several stems are born from the root neck, forked or trident, spreading, and the old stems are often red and purple. Leaf blade is nearly leathery, slightly thick, rectangular, 4-8 cm long and 5- 15 mm wide, with a short tip and a slightly narrow base. The two leaf bases are connected into a short sheath shape, and the stem slightly embraces the stem, with 3-5 veins, the midvein is obvious, and the upper leaves are narrow and nearly linear. Corymbose cymes are dense, terminal or axillary, glabrous; Pedicel 2-5 mm long, straight, glabrous or sparsely pubescent; Bracts ovate-lanceolate, long-tailed, veined, mostly ciliate; Calyx bell-shaped or funnel-shaped, 2-3 mm long, calyx teeth ovoid triangle, slightly pointed, veins green, reaching the tip of teeth, white edge, veins, ciliate; Petals are pink, obovate-oblong, with truncated or slightly concave tips, which are 1 times longer than calyx; Stamens are longer than petals; The ovary is obovoid, and the style is long, linear and prominent. Capsule ovoid, slightly longer than persistent calyx, 4-lobed at the top; The seeds are nearly kidney-shaped, long 1.2- 1.5 mm, grayish brown, squashed on both sides, with strip-shaped protrusions, small verrucous protrusions on the thorns and short tips. The flowering period is June-September, and the fruiting period is 8-65438+1October. Produced in Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan (north of Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River), Guangxi can be cultivated as' Bupleurum'. Born in grasslands, shrubs, stone beaches or coastal sandy land on slopes below 2000 meters above sea level. North Korea also has it. Root medicine has the functions of clearing away heat and cooling blood, relieving swelling and pain, and promoting tissue regeneration and bone growth. Root soaking agent can control aphids, red spiders, cutworms and so on. , wool and silk products can also be washed. Whole grass can be used as pig feed; It can also be cultivated and watched. "

What is mentioned above is its scientific name, botanical characteristics, origin, use and so on. What should be its generic name?

Geng, Qiu Agricultural College, Department of Food Engineering of Shaanxi Normal University, and Li Chunhua, Department of Food Engineering of Hebei Normal University of Science and Technology, wrote a paper entitled "Composition Analysis and Nutritional Evaluation of", which said: "(Miq all over the sky. ) is a perennial plant of Dianthus, which is widely distributed in Hebei, Henan, Shandong and other places in China. "

Ma Chengliang, Department of Biology, Shandong Weifang College, published the article "The Utilization Value of Cao Xia" in the 7th issue of special economic animal and plant magazine in 2003. The article said: "Cao Xia (Miq all over the sky. ), also known as feldspar oak, Dianthus, grasshopper and grasshopper, is a perennial herb of Dianthus. It is distributed in North China, Northeast China, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu and other places, and is mostly born in hillside grasslands, mostly sunny and semi-sunny slopes. "

From these two papers, we can see the names of "miscellaneous vegetables", "grasshopper" and "grasshopper", which are called "all over the sky" in most places in Jiaodong.

"I love Yantai Net" (/index.htm) said in the news "The quantity of wild vegetables in Chengyang vegetable and aquatic products wholesale market in Qingdao, Shandong Province is rising and the price is moderate" on March 3, 2006: "Recently, a large number of wild vegetables have been listed in Chengyang vegetable and aquatic products wholesale market in Qingdao, and there are many kinds of wild vegetables, including shepherd's purse, bitter vegetable, Toona sinensis, grasshopper and plantain.

Why is Cao Xia called "mountain grasshopper" in dialect? I think this is the name corresponding to "grasshopper" Grasshopper, namely purslane, is a very common wild vegetable. Folks call Portulaca oleracea purslane. Because it looks like a grasshopper, it gradually evolved into a grasshopper. So what are the similarities between Cao Xia and Portulaca oleracea? Their biggest similarity is the taste. Fresh purslane, sour taste; The fresh Cao Xia I have tasted before tastes sour. Moreover, they also have some similarities in appearance. Both of them are very common wild vegetables, with sour taste and similar appearance; Portulaca oleracea is generally born on the flat ground, while Cao Xia is generally grown on the hillside. Therefore, Cao Xia is called "Mountain Grasshopper". In dialects, there are countless examples of such naming, such as celery and cress, bamboo and mangosteen (both Dianthus and Bupleurum), sweet potato and sweet potato (snake grape), eggplant and eggplant (both Viola yedoensis and Solanum nigrum). Things are always changing. In some places, "grasshopper" is simply called "grasshopper" and "purslane". For example, a food company in Penglai called Cao Xia "Portulaca oleracea wild vegetable" in an online advertisement. In the eastern part of Jiaodong Peninsula, the mountain grasshopper is called "mountain grasshopper" for short. And after a long-term pronunciation change, the stress falls on the last word. This is also a normal phenomenon in dialects. But in this way, "literati" don't know what it is called, and even think that this plant widely distributed in Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan and other places is a specialty of Jiaodong Peninsula.