Tangaek — Decoctions · Vegetables
小蒜 Jageunmaneul (작은마늘)
Sosan (小蒜), literally "small garlic," was the traditional name for garlic-like plants with small bulbs, used in contrast to daesan (大蒜), the large garlic. In English it would simply be "small garlic." The original text records that it grows in the mountains, and that both its root and shoots resemble garlic but are slender and small. It also preserves an alternate name, 蒚 (gyeok), and a separate name for the root, 薍子 (nanja).
Which plant this actually refers to today cannot be stated with certainty; the safest reading is that it covers small wild members of the genus Allium growing naturally in the mountains and fields. The text says it is dug up around the fifth day of the fifth lunar month — the time of Dano, a traditional Korean early-summer festival.
Original, read line by line 東醫寶鑑 · Tangaek — Decoctions vol. 2
-
性溫一云熱, 味辛, 有小毒.
Its nature is warm, though one account calls it hot; its taste is pungent and it is slightly toxic.
HomiclubSosan was the name for small-bulbed alliums set against the larger daesan garlic. Because the source says only that it grows in the mountains and that root and shoot resemble garlic while being slender and small, its modern identity cannot be fixed; it is placed no further than among the small wild alliums of Korean hills and fields.
-
歸脾腎. 溫中, 消穀, 止霍亂吐瀉, 治蠱毒, 付蛇蟲傷.
It returns to the bi (脾, spleen) and sin (腎, kidney). It warms the center, digests grain, stops vomiting and diarrhea from sudden turmoil disorder, treats godok (蠱毒, parasitic toxin), and is applied to bites from snakes and insects.
-
一名蒚, 根名薍子. 生山中.
It is also called gyeok (蒚), and its root is called nanja (薍子). It grows in the mountains.
-
爾雅云, 菜之美者, 有雲夢之葷, 根苗皆如葫而細小, 亦甚葷臭. 五月五日採. 《本草》
The Iya (爾雅) says that among the delicious vegetables there is the pungent herb of Unmong (雲夢). Its root and shoot are both like garlic but slender and small, and it too is rankly pungent. It is dug on the fifth day of the fifth month. 《Boncho (本草)》
HomiclubThe note that root and shoot resemble garlic while being slender and small fits the wild alliums of Korean hills and fields, plants with narrow leaves and a single small bulb at the base.
Vegetables — more entries
This is a cultural and historical record from a classical text, not a claim about any food’s effects. Nothing here is a health supplement or intended to prevent or treat disease. Consult a medical professional about health concerns. · Text: Korean Medicine Classics DB · Reading: Homiclub