Legend of Balsam Flower

Balsam flower is temperature and taste pungent. It has the function of activating blood and removing blood stasis, dredging channels and eliminating edema. It is considered as an important folk using medicine that can regulate menstruation and treat external wound.

According to the legend, in Fujian Province, there was a girl whose name is Fengxian which means balsam flower in Chinese culture. The girl is very beautiful and she has a good temper. She fell in love with a boy called Jintong. One day, the son of local magistrate passed this place and he was attracted by Fengxian’s beauty greatly. He flirted with Fengxian who rejected and scolded the son of magistrate angrily.

Fengxian offended the son of magistrate and she realized that magistrate would greatly punish her, so she decided to go to other cities with Jintong. Fengxian only had father and Jintong only had mother. These four people left their hometown at that very night. During the way, Jintong’s mother got the disease of amenorrhea and abdominal pain. They were in a mountain at that time. There was so desolated that no doctors can be found. They had to stop for a rest.

Meanwhile, the magistrate heard that his son was scolded by a farmer’s girl, so he sent his heelers to catch the girl. When these heelers were about to catch them, both Fengxian and Jintong chose to jump the cliff in order to protect their reputation. The two elders buried the two with great sorrow.

During that night, both the two elders sleep aside the grave and they dreamed that Fengxian and Jintong told them the flowers grow along mountain stream could treat the mother’s disease. In the second day, the two elder woke up and they found that there are so many flowers with red and white color spreading along mountain stream. Red flowers are like morning glow while the white ones look like pure silver. They use this flower to boil soup, and then mother’s disease was really relived.


Afterwards, later generations called this flower balsam flower in order to memorize the girl and the boy.