| Chrysanthemum must have been considered as the most beautiful flower in all sorts of flowers in view of figure and fragrance.
Therefore, it is told that ancient literary men wrote poems about the flower,
especially for the noble and elegant nature as one of four major oriental painting subjects,
sang about it, drank chrysanthemum wine and enjoyed for a day while drinking the wine on September 9,
the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar.
And they slept with chrysanthemum inserted in their pillows, some in the Shilla Dynasty thought it as a miraculous plant,
using it for driving away evils and some used it as a medicine. In addition,
a story is handed down that there lived chrysanthemum autogenously in a place called Yeohyeon at
Namyang in a neighboring country, China and the inhabitants drinking the liquid lived for 120 ~ 130 years
and that a hermit, Paengjo enjoyed chrysanthemum dew in every morning, lived long without illness.
Like this, chrysanthemum not only boasts its beauty but also has been used as a good stuff among
the people while it¡¯s not clear when the flower was introduced to Korea but it may be supposed
that chrysanthemum was introduced long time ago, considering a record that 5 branches were sent to
Japan in the period of the 16th King of Backjae Dynasty, Jinsa. There are 3~400 chrysanthemum
species and the most species belong to medium and large chrysanthemum, which were improved from
chrysanthemum morifolium.
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Scientific Name
