旋復花 하국(선복화) (선복화)

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

1. 性微溫, 味醎甘, 有小毒.

   Slightly warm in nature, with a salty-sweet taste and mild toxicity. It warms the body gently while loosening what is stuck.

2. 主胸上痰唾如膠漆, 心脇痰水, 兩脇脹滿.

   It treats sticky phlegm and saliva clinging like glue or lacquer in the upper chest, phlegm-fluids around the heart and flanks, and bloating distension in both sides. It thins and moves mucus that has gummed itself in place.

3. 開胃止嘔逆, 去膀胱宿水, 明目.

   It opens the stomach to restore appetite, stops nausea and retching, drains long-stagnant water from the bladder, and brightens the eyes. The classics saw stomach function and water metabolism as a single knot to untie.

4. 一名金沸草, 葉如大菊.

   Another name is jinfeicao, and the leaves resemble those of a large chrysanthemum. Picture the foliage of a wild mountain chrysanthemum and you have the right image.

5. 六月開花如菊花, 小銅錢大, 深黃色.

   In the sixth lunar month it blooms like a chrysanthemum, about the size of a small copper coin, in a deep yellow. Imagine rows of little gold buttons hung out in midsummer.

6. 採花日乾, 在處有之.

   The flowers are gathered and sun-dried, and the plant grows almost everywhere. It was a common roadside herb rather than a rare find.

7. 蒸熟曬乾. 入煎藥, 綿濾去滓. 《本草》

   Steam it until done, then dry it again in the sun; when added to a decoction, strain through silk cloth and discard the dregs. The old physicians insisted on the cloth because the fine hairs on the flower irritate the throat. From the Bencao.