萱草根 원추리 뿌리 (훤초근)

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

1. 性涼, 味甘, 無毒.

   Its nature is cool, its taste sweet, and it has no toxicity, making it well suited for clearing heat from the body.

2. 主小便赤澁, 身體煩熱.

   It treats reddish, difficult urination and the restless heat that flushes through the body, easing the smoldering warmth that rises in summer.

3. 治沙淋, 下水氣, 療酒疸.

   It cures gravel-stones in urination, drains stagnant water from the body, and relieves jaundice brought on by drink, a point worth noting for those whose cups run often.

4. 人家種之, 多採其嫩苗煮食.

   People grow it around their homes and most often pluck its tender shoots to boil and eat, the very spring greens long familiar on Korean tables.

5. 又取花跗作葅, 云利胸膈甚佳.

   Its flower buds were also pickled like kimchi, said to open the chest and diaphragm wonderfully, serving as a small delicacy for a tight, stifled heart.

6. 一名鹿葱.

   It also goes by the name nokchong, meaning the onion-like herb that deer love to graze on.

7. 花名宜男, 孕婦佩之生男.

   Its flower is called uinam, with the old belief that an expectant mother who wore it would bear a son, a custom that shows the warm affection people once vested in this bloom.

8. 養生論云, 萱草忘憂, 此也. 《本草》

   The Yangsaengnon says that the daylily makes one forget sorrow, and this is the very plant it speaks of, long cherished under the name mang-u-cho, the herb that loosens grief. From the Bencao.