''Platostoma palustre'', commonly known as Chinese mesona, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of plant belonging to the genus ''

Platostoma ''Platostoma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, first described as a genus in 1818. It is native to tropical parts of Africa, southern Asia, Papuasia, and Australia. ''Mesona'' and ''Acrocephalus'' has been known as i ...

'' of the mint family. The species grows extensively in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

such as south east

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

preferring ravines, grassy, dry, and sandy areas. The plants are from 15 to 100 cm high with hairy stems and leaves. The leaves are tear-drop shaped and serrated. The plants are referred to as ''xiān cǎo'' (仙草), ''xiānrén cǎo'' (仙人草), ''xiān cǎo jiù'' (仙草舅) or ''liángfěn cǎo'' (涼粉草) in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...

, ''sian-chháu'' (仙草) in

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

, ''lèuhng fán chou'' (涼粉草) in

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

, ''sương sáo'' in

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

, and หญ้าเฉาก๊วย in

Thai Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode block ...

. "本品加水與少許鹹共同煎汁，添加少許澱粉漿可製成仙草凍，是夏天常吃的清涼飲品" GrassJellySpoon

Use, cultivation and processing

Mesona is primarily used in making

grass jelly Grass jelly, also known as leaf jelly or herb jelly, is a jelly-like dessert eaten in East and Southeast Asia. It is created by using Chinese mesona (a member of the mint family) and has a mild, slightly bitter taste. It is served chilled, wit ...

. The leaves and stems of the plant are dried and oxidized, much like tea, then processed into a jelly. The plant extracts of the black variant of grass jelly (''Mesona palustris'') have been reported to induce anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, and anti-diarrhea effects in pre-clinical research, all of which are possible due to the strong antioxidant nature of the extracts. ''P. palustre'' is cultivated on flat ground or areas with a slight slope. In Taiwan, this plant is often grown under fruit trees in fruit orchards as a secondary crop. The plant is processed by harvesting all the aerial portions above the root. The portions are then partially dried and piled up in order to allow them to oxidize until they have darkened. After the oxidation, they are then thoroughly dried for sale.

References

External links

Asian grass jelly

Lamiaceae Flora of China Flora of Japan Flora of Taiwan Plants described in 1997 {{Lamiaceae-stub