Chinese Artichoke/Stachys Affinis, Crosne - 3 Tubers may have seedlings

The tubers have a crunchy texture and a sweet, nutty flavour. They can be eaten raw, pickled, dried or cooked. A wide range of uses for this vegetable leads to various dishes in the cuisine of many countries.

The leaves can be dried and made into a tea.

In traditional Chinese medicine, the entirety of S. affinis is used as an agent to treat colds and pneumonia.

In addition, root extract of S. affinis has shown antimicrobial activity. Furthermore, Baek et al. observed antioxidant activity in 2004. Also in 2004 inhibitory effects on acetylcholine esterase, monoamine oxidase and xanthine oxidase activities were observed in rat brains after 20 days of feeding with methanolic extracts of S. affinis. Ethanol extract from this plant also seems to have antitumour activity.