The pinyin and tones for eggplant are [qié zi], where the syllable "qie" is a diphthong and "zi" is a soft tone, and there is no fixed tonal value for soft tones.

I. Morphological Characteristics of Eggplant

Annual herb to sub-shrub, 60-100cm tall. stems erect, stout, branched above, green or purple, unarmed or sparsely spiny, stellate-pilose throughout. Single leaves alternate; petiole 2-4.5cm long; leaf blade ovate-elliptic, 8-18cm long, 5-11cm wide, apex obtuse-acute, base unequal, leaf margin often undulate lobed, surface dark green, both surfaces stellate pilose.

Fertile flowers solitary, infertile flowers scorpioid and fertile flowers; calyx campanulate, apical 5-lobed, lobes lanceolate, stellate pilose; corolla purple-blue, about 3cm in diameter, lobes triangular, about 1cm; stamens 5, filaments short, inserted in the throat of the corolla, anthers yellow, detached, pore-cleft at the apex; pistil 1, 2-loculed ovary, style rounded globose, stigma small.

Berry long ellipsoid, globose or long columnar, dark purple, light green or yellowish white, smooth, base with persistent calyx. Flowering June-August, fruiting after flowering.

Two, the growing environment: native to subtropical, Sendtner that originated in Arabia. Cultivated throughout China.

Three, related discussions

"Jia You Materia Medica": "Eggplant, a drop Su, everywhere. Roots and withered stems and leaves of the main frozen foot sores, can be boiled for soup, stained good. Bitter eggplant tree is small with thorns, and its seeds are ground with vinegar to treat carbuncles and swellings, and the roots are also used for bath soup, born in Lingnan."

Four, the practice of eggplant: braised eggplant, eggplant with fish, homemade eggplant, eggplant sauce, steamed eggplant, eggplant with minced meat, sweet and sour eggplant.