The flower language and legend of Perilla

Flower language of Perilla

Perilla looks inconspicuous in appearance, and its flower language is ordinariness.

There is also a kind called Perilla frutescens, and its flower language is hopeless love.

The legend of basil

There is a legend about perilla.

It is said that during the Double Ninth Festival, Hua Tuo took his apprentices to a wine shop to drink and saw several teenagers competing in eating crabs. They ate a lot. Hua Tuo thought that crabs were cold in nature and eating too much might make people sick, so he advised them to eat less. The teenagers were eating happily and did not listen to him at all. They even made sarcastic remarks, thinking Hua Tuo was just greedy. Hua Tuo was very angry and told the shopkeeper that he could no longer sell crabs to them because he was afraid that people would die if they ate too many crabs. But the hotel owner wanted to make more money and didn't listen to Hua Tuo at all. He also said that even if something happened, it had nothing to do with Hua Tuo, so Hua Tuo had to sit down and drink his own wine.

After a while, the young men suddenly complained of severe stomachache. The hotel owner was terrified and asked what was going on. The teenagers then asked if the crabs were poisonous and asked him to get a doctor to take a look. At this time, Hua Tuo revealed his identity as a doctor and told the group of teenagers that he knew what disease they had. The group of young people quickly begged Hua Tuo to save them. Hua Tuo asked them to promise to respect the elderly from now on before he would treat them, and the young men agreed immediately. Hua Tuo and his apprentice left the hotel, and the apprentice said he could go home to get the medicine. Hua Tuo told his apprentice that they didn't need to go home, but just go dig some purple leaf grass for them to eat. Hua Tuo and his apprentice quickly collected some comfrey leaves and asked the hotel owner to make a few bowls of soup for the teenagers. After a while, their stomachaches went away. They were very grateful to Hua Tuo, expressed their thanks to him, and told people everywhere how great Hua Tuo's medical skills were. Hua Tuo also warned the boss not to just focus on making money in the future, and the boss nodded in agreement.

Hua Tuo's apprentice asked him how he knew that purple grass could cure crab poison. Hua Tuo said that he remembered seeing otters eating purple grass leaves to cure diseases. Once, Hua Tuo and his apprentice went to collect herbs and saw an otter who had eaten too much and felt very uncomfortable. The otter ate some purple leaf grass and soon felt better. This is because fish, like crabs, are cool in nature, while purple grass is warm in nature, so purple grass can be used for detoxification. The apprentice suddenly got the idea.

After that, Hua Tuo made purple leaf grass into pills and powders to treat people. He also discovered that this grass has other functions. Because this purple-leaf grass feels very comfortable when eaten, people named it Zishu, and later it evolved into Perilla.