芭蕉根 파초뿌리 (파초근)

Original, read line by line 東醫寶鑑 · Tangaek — Decoctions vol. 3

1. 性寒, 味甘, 無毒.

   Its nature is cold, its taste sweet, and it carries no toxicity, which suits it to clearing heat.

2. 治天行熱狂, 煩悶, 消渴.

   It treats epidemic fevers with delirium, restless oppression in the chest, and the wasting-thirst syndrome — conditions roughly matching high fever with confusion and unquenchable thirst today.

3. 取汁服.

   Press the juice from the root and drink it — notably taken raw rather than decocted.

4. 人家種植之, 亦付腫毒, 幷髮落塗之. 《本草》

   Households commonly cultivate it; the root is also applied to swellings and toxic sores, and rubbed onto areas of hair loss — showing its broad use as a topical remedy. 《Bencao》

5. 芭蕉油

   Banana sap — a separate entry referring to the liquid drawn from the trunk, distinct from the root.

6. 治頭風髮落, 及湯火瘡.

   It treats head-wind with hair loss as well as scalds from boiling water and burns from fire — a versatile topical for scalp and skin injuries.

7. 又治風癎, 涎暈欲倒, 飮之卽吐, 便差.

   It also addresses wind-epilepsy with foaming and dizziness on the verge of collapse — once drunk it induces vomiting, after which the patient recovers.

8. 以竹筒揷皮中, 如取漆法. 《本草》

   To collect it, insert a bamboo tube into the trunk's bark, in the same manner as tapping lacquer from the lacquer tree. 《Bencao》