Abstract
Chinese crude drug "Lu-ti-cao"(鹿蹄草) has been used as a remedy for beriberi, cut bleeding, snake bite, etc. In Korea, the drug is called "Nok Je Cho" and has been used as a folk medicine of the same effect as that of Chinese equivalent. The original plant of this drug has not yet been as certained. To clarify the botanical origin of "Nok Je Cho", the morphological and anatomical characteristics of the leaves of Pyrola species growing in Korea, i.e. P. incarnata, P. japonica, P. minor, P. renifolia, P. secunda were studied. As a result, it was clarified that "Nok Je Cho" was the leaf of Pyrola japonica and Pyrola minor.