蘆根 갈대 뿌리 (노근)

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 bears no toxicity. It cools heat gently without irritation, making it safe for regular use.

2. 主消渴客熱.

   It is chiefly used for wasting-thirst syndrome and externally invading heat, easing dry mouth and lingering internal warmth.

3. 開胃, 治噎噦,

   It opens the appetite and relieves choking sensations and persistent hiccups, unblocking the stuffy feeling in the chest and stomach.

4. 療孕婦心熱及痢渴.

   It also treats heat in the chest of pregnant women as well as thirst following dysentery, gentle enough for expectant mothers.

5. 生水中, 葉似竹, 花白.

   It grows in water, with leaves resembling bamboo and white flowers, the very reed one sees along riverbanks and wetlands.

6. 葦比蘆差大, 蘆與葦皆可通用.

   The wei reed grows somewhat larger than the lu reed, yet both may be used interchangeably as medicine without strict distinction.

7. 凡使須要逆水蘆, 其根逆水生者.

   For medicinal use one must choose reeds whose roots grow against the current, as the root that resists the water’s flow concentrates the strongest virtue.

8. 又云, 當拯取水底甘辛者,

   Another account says one should draw up roots from the water’s bottom, those tasting sweet and pungent, as deeper roots hold the fuller potency.

9. 其露出浮水者, 不堪用. 《本草》

   Roots exposed above the water cannot be used, for once bared to sun and air they lose the cool, moistening essence the medicine relies upon. 《Bencao》

10. 花

    The flower is treated as a separate medicinal part, for the reed offers its own use beyond the root alone.

11. 名蓬蕽, 主霍亂大善.

    This flower is called bongnong, and it works remarkably well against sudden vomiting and diarrhea, the condition known as cholera-like upheaval.

12. 煮汁服. 《本草》

    Boil it and drink the decoction, an old and simple method of settling the stomach with reed-flower broth. 《Bencao》