The Temperate Database is in the process of being updated, with new records being added and old ones being checked and brought up to date where necessary. This record has not yet been checked and updated.

Common Name: Ban Xia

General Information

Pinellia ternata is a Corm up to 0.20 metres tall.
It is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and medicine

Known Hazards

The plant is toxic[]. This report probably refers to the presence of calcium oxylate. This is toxic and if consumed makes the mouth and digestive tract feel as though hundreds of needles are being stuck into it. However, calcium oxylate is easily destroyed by thoroughly cooking or drying the plant[].

Botanical References

,

Range

E. Asia - China, Japan, Korea.

Habitat

Cultivated fields and roadsides all over Japan[]. Shady and damp grass thickets on mountain sides and stream edges[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Habit	Corm
Height	0.20 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

An easily grown when given a rich soil, it requires plenty of water in the growing season[]. Succeeds in full sun or partial shade[].
This species is cultivated as a medicinal plant in China[].
Plants produce bulbils in their leaf axils and when growing in suitable conditions can become invasive[, ]. The plants can be naturalized in woodland[].

Edible Uses

Root[]. The tuber is about 12mm in diameter[]. No more details of edibility are given in these reports but caution is advised since the fresh root is toxic[]. The toxins can be destroyed by thoroughly drying, or very well cooking the root[].

Medicinal

The root of ban xia is antiemetic, antiphlogistic, expectorant, febrifuge, sialagogue and styptic. It also strengthens the spleen[, , , , ]. Modern research has shown that this remedy is very effective in controlling nausea and vomiting[]. It is also an ingredient of a Chinese prescription for removing gallstones without surgery, a process that usually causes severe nausea[]. The root is also used internally in the treatment of coughs with thin watery phlegm and gastritis[]. The fresh root is extremely acrid and contains toxins, these are neutralized upon drying or by soaking in tea or vinegar[]. The root is harvested in the summer and dried for later use, it should not be used fresh[, ].
Extracts of the plant have been shown to have analgesic, antiemetic, anticancer and sedative activity[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - we have no information but suggest sowing the seed in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe if this is possible otherwise in early spring. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Division of offsets as new growth begins in spring[].
Bulbils from the leaf axils can be potted up in late summer and be planted out in late spring[].