根 Naengi Ppuri (냉이 뿌리)

Shepherd's purse root appears in the Dongui Bogam not as an entry of its own but as a short note appended to the main article on shepherd's purse (薺菜), referring simply to the root of that plant. Where fuller entries in the Dongui Bogam typically open by recording a substance's nature and flavor (성질·맛 — its warming or cooling character and its taste, the basic categories by which traditional Korean medicine describes how a substance acts in the body), the text spares this root only a single line.

Shepherd's purse sends a single white taproot straight down into the soil. When the plant is dug in spring, the leaves and root are lifted and trimmed together as one. The root is also the part that releases the deepest fragrance when the plant is simmered into soup.