Abstract
Gu-Hwang Plants(plants collected from mountains and fields and eaten when no food was available) is healthy, life saving food material, being Mi(taste) and Ki(energy) of nature, for modern people who lose their health by oversupplying energy and unbalanced diet. Also, Gu-Hwang Plants is material for new medicine and functional foods. However, there is a lack of document research about Gu-Hwang plants in Korea. "Gu-Hwang-Bon-Cho" is a book about plants written as a guide for collecting food from nature and maintaining life at times when no food is available due to natural disaster. The book describes in which soils the plants are produced and the names for the plants, and classifies them according to hot and cold characters and sweet and bitter tastes of the plants. In addition, the book distinguished plants' edible parts, such as flower, fruit, root, stem, peel, and leaf, with how to collect and cook them. The book is of great value that it is reprinted over generations and now there are 30 kinds of existing books. This study conducted research based on books published throughout history which are the first book of this kind by Ju-wang-ju, a book published in 1525 by I-Ryeom, a book published in 1555 by Youk-gan, a book published by Ho-seung of Sa-cheon, and a book published in 1566 by Ju-gon.
