實 Bipa Yeolmae (비파 열매)

Loquat Fruit (實)

The character 實 simply means "fruit" — this entry follows the preceding one on loquat leaf, turning to the fruit of the same tree. The loquat is a small evergreen tree in the rose family; in Korea it grows along the southern coast and on Jeju Island. It blooms with white flowers in winter, and its apricot-colored fruit ripens in early summer of the following year.

The Dongui Bogam records the fruit's nature as cold and its flavor as sweet, and notes that it is non-toxic. In traditional Korean medicine, every substance is characterized by its "nature and flavor" (seongjil and mat): the nature describes the thermal effect it is understood to have on the body — a "cold" substance cools and calms — while the flavor points to the kind of action it exerts, with sweetness generally associated with nourishing and harmonizing. The note that it has "no toxicity" marks it as safe for ordinary use within this framework.