旋花 Japanese bindweed

Original, read line by line 東醫寶鑑 · Tangaek — Decoctions vol. 2

1. 性溫, 味甘, 無毒. 主益氣, 去面皯, 令顔色媚好.

   Its nature is warm, its taste sweet, and it is non-toxic. It chiefly augments qi, removes blemishes from the face, and makes the complexion comely.

   HomiclubSeonhwa is the shade-dried flower of the bindweed. Bindweed is a common trailing plant of field edges and meadows, its pale pink trumpet opening by day and closing toward evening.

2. 一名鼔子花, 言其形肖也. 五月採花, 陰乾.

   It is also called gojahwa (鼔子花, drum flower), said of the resemblance of its shape to a drum. Gather the flowers in the fifth month and dry them in the shade.

3. 此卽生平澤, 旋葍之花也. 蔓生, 葉似薯蕷而多狹長. 花紅白色, 根無毛節, 蒸煮堪啖, 味甘美, 食之不飢.

   This is the flower of seonbok (旋葍), which grows in level marshland. It trails, and its leaves resemble those of yam but are mostly narrow and long. Its flowers are red and white, its root without hairs or nodes; steamed or boiled it is fit to eat, sweet and pleasant, and eating it staves off hunger.

   HomiclubThe bindweed's root is a smooth white rhizome that was once dug and steamed as famine food. Its narrow, arrow-shaped leaves are what distinguish it from the morning glory.

4. 生田野, 處處有之, 最難鋤治. 《本草》

   It grows in fields and open ground everywhere, and is the hardest of all to clear away with a hoe. 《Boncho (本草)》

   HomiclubBecause a single fragment of rhizome left in the soil sprouts again, it is still counted among the most stubborn weeds in a field.