Malantou, also known as red stalked cabbage, is a perennial herb of the genus Malan, family Asteraceae. It was originally a wild species, born on roadsides, fields and slopes, and is distributed in most parts of the country. There are two kinds of Malan head, red stem and green stem, both edible, medicinal to red stem Malan head is better.

Malanchu is widely adaptable, temperature-loving also more shade-tolerant, cold and heat resistance is very strong, light requirements are not strict, in the 32 ℃ high temperature can be normal growth in -10 ℃ can be safe to overwintering, when the local temperature rebound to 10 ~ 12 ℃, the temperature of 10 ~ 15 ℃, the young leaves and young stems began to grow rapidly. Seed germination temperature at about 20 ℃, young leaves and young stems of the harvest period is mainly concentrated in March to April.